Turkey is the land of some of the most wholesome and
delicious food in the world.
Heavily favoring fresh vegetables, steering
away from too much red meat and relying extensively
on pure olive oil and garlic, the Turkish cuisine
is healthy and non-fattening, except if one indulges
too much in good Turkish bread, borek pastries
or rich sweet desserts. Eating when on holiday
is fun, especially because you have the time and
the opportunity to explore the local gastronomic
scene, so let us tempt you with a few suggestions. |
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However, if you are set in your
eating habits and determined to stick to fish
and chips, steak or hamburgers in any of their
variations, who are we to condemn your choice
of food? You’re free to eat what you will,
but if you listen to that call to adventure within
you, perhaps you’ll give a try to something
different from your usual fare. And Bodrum has
it nearly all. |
Some tips about eating out are given below, with the
understanding that what tastes good to one person may
not appeal to another.
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Although many restaurants now
feature what is known as “international
cuisine” some still keep on their menus
selections of authentic Turkish dishes. Try them.
There are also a few Turkish “lokantas”
left, these are eating places specializing in
quite inexpensive regional Turkish food. Try them
too. |
If you have to eat and run, try
Turkish doner kebab take-outs served in 1/4 or
1/2 loaf of bread - we recommend that you buy
these at places that clearly have a large turn-over,
avoiding tummy problems with meat that may have
remained too long in the heat of the day. |
Other variants of local semi-fast foods are gozleme
and pide - try both. Gözleme is a type of crepe
cooked on a convex iron pot (like a reversed wok) and
served with fillings. Pide is sometimes called “Turkish
pizza” but this comparison is somewhat misleading
- let us add that the Turks are experts at making pide,
not pizza. Another recommended Turkish “fast-food”
is lahmacun.
It’s a fact that what is known as ‘international
cuisine’ has made inroads everywhere but this
trend has somewhat eased with the ‘discovery’
in the West that traditional Mediterranean food is much
healthier than cuisines in which red meat is king and
animal fats are commonly used. Hence the slow return
to the recipes of Turkish grandmothers and chefs of
the Ottoman Court. Another Western ‘discovery’,
of the healthy properties of rice, is at least partly
responsible for the increase of popularity of Oriental
food.
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