Strange as it may sound, but the dishes in Turkey are very similar to those that can be found on our tables. These can be cabbage rolls, bread, barbecue, jam, etc. Residents of this eastern country often include in their diet foods such as onions, olives, eggplant, pickles, yogurt and cheese.
Vegetable dishes
According to Act-Test-Centers.com, Turks never neglect vegetables. Here they are simply not considered to be a secondary product, so the national cuisine of Turkey has many dishes, where the main role is played by vegetables. What are kavurma based on sorrel worth; cabbage rolls wrapped in grape leaves (called “dolma”); stuffed leek; young green beans fried in olive oil. Eggplant is rightfully considered the king of the Turkish “vegetable extravaganza”. Choosing what to try from food in Turkey,you will certainly stumble upon fifty dishes with this vegetable. For example, eggplant skewers and stuffed cabbage rolls, and just fried eggplant, imambayaldy (eggplant in tandem with onions, garlic, olive oil and tomatoes), eggplant jam and hunkara begendi (eggplant and Dutch cheese), whose name literally translates as “the delight of the Sultan “. In short, the local cuisine is a real gastronomic paradise for vegetarians, but meat eaters will also find something to eat in Turkey.
Meat dishes and side dishes
Residents of Turkey, for religious reasons, do not eat pork, and extremely rarely – camel meat. The latter are more often seen in the company of tourists posing for a photographer than on a plate. Here they prefer veal, lamb and goat meat. The meat is cooked in special braziers, baked, fried, on a spit, etc. The most popular dishes are kebab, meatballs, dener and shish kebab.
Of poultry in Turkey, chicken meat is preferred. The local gyuvech and cherkez tavugu deserve special attention. And lovers of something extraordinary should try a special dessert-puree made from chicken breast.
Seafood is also held in high esteem by the locals. The number one fish is anchovy, from which the largest number of dishes are prepared. Mussels and oysters are also often served at the table.
And, of course, no hearty meal is complete without pilaf. In Turkey, they love this dish so much that they eat it at any time of the day (the only exception is breakfast). Curiously, the local pilaf does not have to be based on rice. Wheat, vermicelli and even peas are also used.
Not to mention the first courses. Be sure to try mint rice soup, as well as fish, lentil and traditional chicken soup.
Oriental sweets
A separate topic is Turkish desserts. Oriental sweets are so popular that a special holiday is held in honor of them, known as Sheker Bayram! “Catching” last-minute tours to Turkey and visiting the Republic during this period is the dream of any sweet tooth, because only at this time on the streets they are treated in abundance with sherbet, baklava, sugar almonds, Turkish delight, all kinds of sweet cookies, etc. Necessarily you should taste keshkul (milk almond pudding), muhallebi (dessert based on milk and rice flour), syutlach (a dish of rice, sugar and milk), quince pudding (airy and delicate dessert). A special place on the dessert table was given to ashure porridge – a dish that, according to legend, was prepared from products taken from Noah’s Ark.
From alcoholic drinks, you should try vodka based on anise and grapes (it is not consumed in its pure form, but diluted with water). But local wines are unlikely to surprise, as they do not stand out with special taste and characteristics.
Turkey: Money and currency of Turkey
The currency of Turkey is the Turkish lira (TRL) . You can exchange it at banks, hotels and exchange offices. Banks are open from 8:30 to 17:30, a break from 12:30 to 13:30, weekends are Saturday and Sunday. At the resorts, banks are open seven days a week; on Saturday, some exchange offices are open until 12:00. All banks make currency exchange and carry out operations with credit cards and traveler’s checks, the current rate of the Turkish lira will depend on the institution. There are a large number of 24-hour ATMs.
When learning what currency is in Turkey, one should keep in mind that the Turkish lira is very unstable – the exchange rate changes almost every day. Do not accept banknotes of less than 5 thousand lira, as they have been withdrawn from circulation due to inflation. In addition, dollars and euros are accepted almost everywhere, so it makes sense to exchange only a small amount – for small expenses.
You can pay with checks and credit cards, but they are not always and everywhere accepted, so it is better to exchange the Turkish lira. Often a tax is levied on the use of credit cards (sometimes there are no warnings about this, just 5-7% of the cashed amount is debited from the account).
