Istanbul Cuisine

Food in Daily Life:
Turkish cuisine includes many different stews of vegetables and meat (lamb and beef primarily); borek , kebab , and dolma dishes; and a sourdough bread eaten with almost every meal. ..

Turkish beverages include tea drunk throughout the day, thick coffee usually taken after a meal, ayran (buttermilk), boza (a fermented bulgur drink taken in the winter), and rakî (an aniseed-flavored brandy usually mixed with water). Carbonated drinks have become popular with young people, and beer gardens in major cities have become hangouts for men.


Turks usually prefer a rich breakfast. A typical Turkish breakfast consists of cheese (beyaz peynir, kaşar etc.), butter, olives, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, jam, honey, and kaymak. Sucuk (spicy Turkish sausage, can be eaten with eggs), pastırma, börek, simit, poğaça and soups are eaten as a morning meal in Turkey. A common Turkish speciality for breakfast is called menemen, which is prepared with tomatoes, green peppers, onion, olive oil and eggs. Invariably, Turkish tea is served at breakfast. The Turkish word for breakfast, kahvaltı, means "before coffee" (kahve, 'coffee'; altı, 'under').

A typical noon meal consists of vegetable and meat stew with a side dish of rice or bulgar pilaf and salad, with fruit for desert. Borek or dolma may substitute for the stew. Sweet deserts, such as baklava, are served on special occasions.

                                           Borek (Borek is a pastry made of many thin layers of dough interspersed with cheese, spinach, and/or ground meat)

                                           Dolma ( Dolma is the generic name for dishes made of vegetables (e.g., tomatoes and peppers) and leaves (e.g., grape, cabbage, and eggplant) that are stuffed with or wrapped around rice or bulgur pilaf,)

The evening meal is usually lighter, consisting of leftovers from noon or a kebab with salad. Ordinarily, only water is drunk with the noon and evening meals.

 Kebab is the common word for meat roasted in pieces or slices on a skewer or as meatballs on a grill

Climate
In the winter, many Turks eat a breakfast of bread with hot soup. 
In the warmer seasons, they commonly eat bread and jam, hard- or soft-boiled eggs, a white cheese made from sheep's milk, salty olives, and warm milk or hot tea with milk. 

 Agriculture and religion:
 the Black Sea is noted for fish, especially anchovy, dishes, while the eastern region is noted for spicy foods. 

Circassians are famous for preparing chicken in a walnut sauce, while Georgian cuisine is typified by thick corn bread and corn soup. Lahmacun , or Armenian pizza, originated in the southeastern provinces once occupied by Armenians.

the beginning of the (Turkish) Ottoman Empire's six hundred-year reign. Yogurt salads, fish in olive oil, and stuffed and wrapped vegetables became Turkish staples.

Since the fall of the empire in World War I (1914–1918) and the establishment of the Turkish Republic, foreign dishes such as French hollandaise sauce and Western fast food chains have made their way into the modern Turkish diet.

The major food taboo in Turkey is pork, which is forbidden to Muslims. Although the Koran also forbids alcoholic beverages, many Turks drink beer, wine, and liquors. Certain segments of the Muslim population regard other foods as taboo even though their religion does not prohibit them. For example, Yürüks, a formerly nomadic Turkish people, avoid all seafood with the exception of fish. Members of the Alevi sect of Islam do not eat rabbit because it menstruates. Turks in the northwestern province of Balikesir avoid snails, claiming incorrectly that the Koran forbids their consumption.