Food Blog Entry 1

Well, since I love food so much, I will try and do many posts about the food here in Turkey. These posts will include descriptions and, of course, pictures. So, here is my first food blog entry. I have 2 weeks of experience with Turkish food. Here's what I have found about Turkish food:

Turkish meals usually have meat, cheese, yogurt, and bread. They love carbohydrates. Bread or rice is served with just about every meal, and in large portions. For cheese, it is primarily white cheese. I never knew there could be such variety in cheese in the world. I guess if I lived in Wisconsin I would know the differences between cheeses, but to me, cheese it cheese. In the supermarket, there is an entire aisle dedicated to white cheese. It is incredible. Cheese heaven. With the meat I haven't quite figured out what the most common meat is in Turkey. The cheapest is chicken, like America, and then I think the next common is beef. There is no pork or anything from a pig, since it is a predominately Muslim nation, and Muslims do not eat pig. There are many more sausages at the supermarket than in America. Yogurt is sometimes served on the side of a meal as a palate cleanser and sometimes served over a broth with rice.

For breakfast, I sometimes have Tost, which is basically a panini, with cheese and sometimes a sausage-type meat. Otherwise I have yogurt and cereal in my room. This picture is a typical meal at the dining center. For 4 lira, ~ $2, I have my choice of three dishes. Usually they have the options of a soup - lentil soup is very popular in Turkey, but the dining center commonly has tomato soup as well - a bowl of rice, and bowl with meat and a sauce, a salad or pickled salad (they seem to pickle anything in Turkey), and dessert. Some days they offer everything and sometimes they have only a few of these options. The picture here shows how they put the yogurt right on top of the meat and sauce. It makes it creamier and gives the food the tangy taste that comes with yogurt. Yogurt seems to be the most common way to get the calcium you need. I have bought both milk and yogurt. Milk is not served in the dining center. Only sodas, tea, and water.

At the dining center, they generally have two kinds of desserts, depending on the day. Here is a picture of the first. It is a pudding/custard in which they then add flavors to. This one was cinnamon, one of my favorite spices. The texture is relatively similar to ice cream, which makes me very happy. I LOVE ice cream!

This sandwich I got at one of the malls in Ankara. Ankara is famous for its malls. They are everywhere and they are huge. This sandwich has meat, onions, tomatoes, and pickles (see? they love pickles). Turkish people believe that you cannot cook unless you have onions, so onions are a part of just about every meal, raw or cooked. The bread is very good here if you search for it in the supermarkets. Again, I think this sandwich was only 4 lira, ~ $2. You cannot get anything for $2 in an American mall.

Of course, some meals are more expensive. In general, I thought the food would be cheaper than it actually is. The supermarket prices for food is at least the same price as it is in America. Some things are more expensive. But, when you go out to eat, you can get a nice meal for 10-20 Lira, ~$5-10. This is still cheap compared to America's restaurants. This picture is of the Kebab, or Kebap, in Turkish. I think kebabs can come with any meat, but this one was like a hot dog. I also had one with chicken another time. Notice that there is a salad too. In Turkey, the salad is eaten right along with the main meal. It is not an appetizer. The typical Turkish salad has tomatoes and cucumbers in it as well as the lettuce. This one has corn too, but corn is not in the traditional salad. In Turkey, the dressing that I most commonly see is a pomegranate salad dressing. It is very good. Maybe I will bring some home if I can find it in the supermarket!

Probably my favorite dish so far has been Iskender. It is meat over bread with yogurt on the side. The waiters then come around and add oil and tomato sauce on top of the meat.The oil then soaks into the bread and so after eating the meat you get to enjoy this wonderful bread. It tastes amazing!

I try to write down the names of foods anytime I know what I am eating. But even when I don't know the name of something, it still tastes wonderful. I have liked everything I have tried so far. Turkish food is not spicy at all, which is wonderful for my sensitive taste buds. It still has flavor, but just not the intense spices. Hope you got a taste of Turkey!