Turkish mezes on display
Turkish mezes are traditionally little appetizers which appear on the table before the main course. This is especially true if you go to a fish restaurant. You choose about 3-4 mezes for the table. Turkish Mezes should be served at room temperature unless of course, they are the sıcak mezeler which is Turkish for hot ones. The idea is to start the meal in a slow and leisurely fashion before the appearance of the main meal.
Meze is the word we use for starters here in Turkey, be they hot or cold. Actually mezes are much more than that. A meze is more like a ritual. A way to begin the meal. Eaten correctly, it forces you to eat slowly and savour these wonderfully fresh flavours. Each mouthful is an amazing experience.
Somehow they all go together and taste so good. Unlike an open ticketed buffet table where you pile every possible thing on your plate, mixing up flavours that seriously do not go together and then forcing yourself back up there for more. It is so different from that smorgasbord experience. You have to try Turkish mezes to really appreciate them.
Zeytinyağlı dishes are those prepared in olive oil and are served cold (room temperature).
In a typical Turkish home, one of these would follow on from the main dish. Sometimes a Turkish meze and a zeytinyağlı are one and the same thing!
Rakı would be the usual accompaniment but a dry white wine is perfectly acceptable.
Below you will find a selection of the most commonly found Turkish mezes
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Turkish soups are not necessarily served first by themselves. Sometimes the soup will be placed on the table at the same time as the meze and you can choose when to eat it. Most homes these days will serve soup before the mezes, similar to European culture but going back in time to when Turks were less influenced by other nationalities, it was not the case.
Rather than just sit down with a bowl of soup and then straight onto mains, you will be treated to a lovely display of a number of Turkish mezes. This is a culture. A tradition. A Ritual. A Turkish meal is taken slowly and it can literally take hours. Rushing is certainly not the way forward when it comes to the Turkish Kitchen.
Turkish mezes come in all forms. They can consist of beans, healthy grains, legumes, vegetables, pastries, yoghourt, seafood, meat, or anything else you can virtually think of. They are served in small quantities and savoured in a slow manner.
When going to a restaurant, often outside will be a beautiful, shiny, long refrigerated glass display cabinet filled to the brim with a selection of starters. So many to choose from and so enticing. It is very hard to just order a few. Often you will not get past the starters.
Meze & More
By the time you have consumed all the delicious mezes you ordered, dipping your delectably fresh Turkish bread into all the little platters, you realise it's impossible to eat a main. Your taste buds are totally satisfied, your tummy is full and you feel truly nourished.
Earlier in spring we shared a meal with our neighbours and said we would bring the soup and dessert. We were eating in their home and they had the wood fire burning on a cold night. We placed the soup on the soba (wood heater) so it could heat up gently and sat down to chat.
I suggested the soup was ready and we could commence and this set Hatice into action. She raced off to grab all the other dishes she had prepared to place on the table and as I served the soup, she laid out platters along with spoons and forks. Her husband kept his soup bowl to one side, dived into a bean salad with his fork and then took a mouthful of soup with the spoon.
He alternated with every mouthful until he had finished all he could consume. It was an eye opener. Later they told us that they had never been to a restaurant in their lives. It's an amazing thought in this day and age and we understand when there is not the influence of foreign ways, we learn a little more of lost or dying culture.
Although Hatice has never eaten out, her meals are incredibly tasty, varied and creative. Always, though, they are incorporating the seasonal ingredients and you can be assured not only are they tasty but also good for you.
Turkish Mezes and various zeytinyağlı dishes