Turkish Cuisine
For those who traveled engaged in culinary pursuits,
the Turkish cuisine is a very curious one.
The variety of dishes that make the cuisine, the
ways they are all come together in feast-like meals, and the
evident intricacy of each craft offer enough material for lifelong
study and enjoyment.
One can only conclude that the evolution
of the glorious cuisine was not an accident. Similar to other grand
cuisine's of the world, it is a result of a combination of three
key elements. A nurturing environment is irreplaceable.
Turkey is known for an abundance and diversity of foodstuff due to
its flora, fauna and regional differentiation. And the legacy of an
imperial kitchen is inescapable. Hundreds of cooks specializing in different
types of dishes, all eager to please the royal palate, no doubt had
their influence in perfecting the cuisine we know today.
The palace kitchen supported by a complex social organization, a vibrant urban life, specialization of labor, trade and total control of the spice road, reflected the culmination of wealth and the flourishing of culture in the capital of the mighty Empire.
And the influence of the longevity of social organizations should not be taken lightly either.
The Turkish state of Anatolia is a millennium old and so, naturally is the cuisine.
Time is of the essence: "The religion of the king, in time becomes that of the people",which also holds for the king's food. Thus the reign of the Ottoman dynasty during 600 years, and a seamless cultural transition into the present day of modern Turkey, let to the evolution of a grand cuisine through differentiation, refinement and perfection of dishes, as well as their sequence and combination of meals.
The Turkish cuisine has an extra privilege of being at the crossroad of the Far-east and the Mediterranean, which mirrors along and complex history of Turkish migration from the steppes of central Asia (where they mingled with the Chinese) to Europe ( where they exerted influence all the way to Vienna).
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