Turkey

Turkey is a populous country that spans Europe and West Asia. The official language is Turkish. Kurds form a significant minority group, and they speak Kurdish. There are theories that Indo-European languages may have originated in ancient Turkey. The terrain includes coastal plains, mountains, and waterways. Overall the climate is temperate, but there are continental areas. The level of biodiversity in Turkey is high. Animal species include the tiger, the Angora rabbit, and the Marmaris lycian salamander. Mainstays of the economy include tourism, shipbuilding, and electronics.

The Aya Sofya is perhaps the most well-renowned site in Istanbul, if not the country. This high-domed church turned mosque turned museum has great mosaics and various artifacts. Ankara’s Museum of Anatolian Civilisations has an extraordinary collection of artifacts and information about past lifeways in this region, including items from the important Neolithic age archaeological site of ├çatalh├Âyük. The Mevl├óna Museum in Konya pays tribute to mystics and poets. A visit to this famous lodge may make you feel serene and humble.

Rice, wheat, and pumpkin are common starchy staples. Typical vegetables include zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes, and cabbage. Fish, lamb, and chicken are popular. Diary products are another important element of the diet. Cacik is a yogurt and cucumber soup, often garnished with dill. Try mücver, a fried or baked combination of grated zucchini or potatoes, egg, onion, dill, and flour. It can have cheese in it, or be topped with yogurt. Restaurants don’t typically bend over backwards to specialize in vegetarian or organic cuisines, although they seem to be some part of the regular diet if you can figure out appropriate selections. Izmir and Istanbul do have juice bars, vegetarian Indian and Turkish eateries, and natural foods markets.

Some Turkish desserts have a story to go with them. Güllaç, typically served at Ramadan, has layers of pastry dough along with milk, rose water, pomegranate seeds, and walnut. It is said one has to prepare the thin dough layers with prayers, and they can’t be as thin as desired if that step is skipped. The sweet soup a┼ƒure, composed of boiled beans, wheat, dried fruits, and sometimes cinnamon and rose water, is thought to have first been cooked on Noah’s Ark with seven different ingredients. Clearly, food is something of a religion here.