food history

Kofte is one of the oldest dishes still eaten in Turkey, a direct descendant of the first cooked meats of the ancient world.

The history of borek is the history of the Turkish people in pastry form: a journey from Central Asian tents to Ottoman palaces, from village ovens to the modern breakfast table.

Pide is a bread with a history as long as the Turkish kitchen itself.

Lahmacun is a dish with a name that speaks of distant origins. The word comes from the Arabic for dough and meat, and the flatbread itself belongs to a family of baked breads that stretches across the Middle East.

Manti are the oldest travelers on the Turkish table.

Iskender kebab is one of the most famous dishes of Turkish cuisine: a plate of thinly carved döner meat layered over toasted pide, crowned with tomato sauce and a torrent of melted butter.

Doner kebab is one of the great success stories of world food, a dish that began in the Ottoman kitchens and now turns its spit on every continent.

Simit is one of the oldest foods of Turkey, a golden sesame ring whose story reaches back through the Ottoman centuries to the very origins of baking in the region.

Menemen is one of the most beloved dishes on the Turkish breakfast table, a humble pan of eggs, tomatoes, and peppers that carries a surprisingly rich story.

Turkish delight has one of the most charming origin stories in the world of sweets, and a history that stretches from the courts of the Ottoman Empire to the confectionery shelves of Europe.

Few desserts carry as much history as baklava, and few histories are as hotly debated. Nations from the Balkans to the Levant claim it as their own, and scholars argue over every thread of its ancestry.

Every skewer of kebab carries a long story, one that begins on the open plains of Central Asia and winds through empires, cities, and kitchens to reach your plate.