Delicious Orient

Delicious Orient

"Never say it's only food," is a common saying in Turkey. For the Turkish cuisine, along with the French and the Chinese, ranks as one of the three great cuisines of the world. And here food, culture and the culture of eating form a unity. No other dynasty was as skilful as the Ottoman rulers in combining the regional cuisines of their world empire with their own culture - and thus there emerged a very special, diverse and generous culinary culture. A vast land with different climatic zones, surrounded by three seas - this is also a factor making for great variety in the Turkish cuisine. The Turkish word for food "yemek" is probably derived from an old Turkish syllable, which once also meant medicine. Food and health complement one another in the culinary culture of Turkey.