What are the 8 most famous Turkish dishes ?

What Is Turkey Famous For

The 8 best Turkish dishes

As we have already said, there is the first Turkish dish that you should try, but it’s impossible to bet on all of you, which is why we have selected the 10 most famous Turkish dishes:

1) İskender Kebabı

Visiting Turkey and not trying kebabs is like never trying Turkish food. Kebabs are some of the most favorite Turkish dishes for tourists, but you should know that there are millions of varieties of kebabs, and the taste of each of them is completely different.

One of the most popular types of kebabs is the Iskender Kebab, which is very typical of Bursa, a city located in the northwest of Turkey. The origin of this traditional Turkish dish dates back to 1867, a local cooked it for all workers in the city sunday.

Alexander Kebab consists of cooking long strips of lamb in tomato sauce and serving them on top of rice and pita bread with yogurt next to it. Enjoy your meal

2) Turkish delights

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The Lokum or better known as Turkish Delights are the most popular Turkish sweets. Imagine how tasty are them, that many people buy them as souvenirs to bring some to their family and friends when they go back to their country.

The origin of these delicious Turkish desserts is from many centuries ago, but it wasn´t until the 19th century when it started becoming popular. The corn-starch was invented during the time of the Ottoman sultans, and it was in Istanbul where they decided to add it and give it a better flavour.

Creating one of the best foods in Turkey is as simple as boiling together water, starch and sugar. The favourite flavours are rose water, pistachio and you can have them with or without nuts.

3) Baklava

On third place, we need to mention another of the famous Turkish desserts (you will soon realise that the desserts of Turkey are amazing), in this case we are talking about the popular Baklava which is considered for many people, the best Turkish dessert (even better than the Lokum)

The Baklava is a layered pastry filled with nuts on the inside and covered with syrup and ground pistachios on the outside.

This traditional dish is also known as twisted turban, nightingale’s nest or saray and it´s typical from Antep, a city located in Turkey’s South-eastern Anatolia Region. We truly recommend you eating it when it´s freshly baked.

4) Maraş İCe Cream

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The meaning of Dondurma is ice cream in English, and it refers to a specific type of ice cream typical from Turkey, more concrete, from the old city of Maraş. This ice cream is also known as Dövme Dondurma (Dövme means sticky) and it´s because of the way the ice cream is prepared.

Other than being a delicious Turkish food, the Dondurma is famous thanks to its vendors who made incredible performances on the street while they sale their ice creams. Due to the elasticity of this ice cream, the vendors would make a lot of tricks before putting the ice cream back into the cone. It´s something very impressive to see.

Another curious fact about the Dondurma is that it´s one of the few ice creams on earth that can be eaten with a knife and a fork. It needed to be on our list about the famous food of Turkey.

5) Simit

Do you know German pretzels? Well, if you do, and if you like them, then you must try the Turkish version, not only because it´s very tasty, but also because is one of the most eaten foods in the whole country.

Local people refer to the Simit as one of the most typical breakfast foods in Turkey, you can find them in every single supermarket, restaurant, and bakery. They normally eat it with a tea or a hot coffee.

The origin of the simit dates back to the Ottoman Empire, although it´s exact origin is not clear yet, it is said that it was created in the 1500s. What we know for sure is that the Simit is one of the most popular snacks in Turkey and you need to try them!

6) Chestnuts & corn on the cob

When you are visiting Turkey, and specially Istanbul, the one thing you must do related to food is to try some of the foods they sell at street markets. In this case we are talking about the corn on the cob and the chestnuts.

There are like a million vendors all around the city and they are well known for having incredibly cheap prices. When you hear them screaming “Bir lira, bira lira!” it means “One lira, one lira” and that´s literally what the food costs at these street shops. For example, the corn on the cob costs around 1TL (just 50 cents).

If you are in a hurry, or you just don´t want to expend much money on your food, this is ideal as it´s really good and it´s very cheap.

7) Turkish tea & coffee

If you are looking for the most famous Turkish drinks, then you need to try their coffee and their tea. Both are delicious, and common in their daily life. While tea is served to show hospitality, their coffee is more like something they need… (Turkish people drink coffee many times a day).

Turkish apple tea is known all over the world for being one of the most delicious teas all over the world, and luckily, they sell it at every single café or restaurant. As we mentioned, Turkish people share the tea to show hospitality, and sometimes they even have a cup of tea with their clients (It´s a typical sale technique in Turkey)

On the other side, Turkish people drink coffee more than a few times per day, and the main reason why they do it, is because they love it. The Turkish coffee is characterized for being very dark and strong, that´s why they usually have it with a few sweet desserts (normally Turkish delights).

8) Mezes

You can find all types of food in Turkey, from sweets to meats, from vegetables to fish dishes, there is everything you need, imagine how crazy it is, that they even have something that it´s really similar to the Spanish tapas. These are known as Mezes, but from now on, we can also call it Turkish tapas.

Mezes are small dishes that are served as appetizers before a meal, shared with drinks or sometimes as accompaniments to a main course.

Some of the typical foods of the mezes are cheese, humus, dolma, herbed yogurt or different kinds of salads. Mezes as it happens with the Spanish tapas are very typical to share with friends, but you can have them on your own too.