What is not so well-known is that Turkish cuisine is rated as one of the three great cuisines of the world, along with French and Chinese.The story of it's development is unique as much of it was created to tempt the palate of one individual, Allah's representative on earth, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Originally a nomadic people from the Central Asian steppes, the Turks began to conquer Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, nearly a thousand years ago.

They brought their own dishes, yogurt, kebabs, pastry parcels called borek, and like Marco Polo in later years, noodles (or pasta) from north western China where Turkish is still spoken.

A ravioli type dish called manti is one of Turkey's most traditional dishes and is served with garlic yogurt.Over the centuries these traditional nomadic dishes were added to and refined at the Ottoman Sultan's court.

During the five hundred years of the Ottoman Empire Turkey's dominions extended from North Africa, Persia and the Middle East to the Balkans and Greece. during this period the Sultan's chefs in the great palace of Topkapi in Istanbul devoted themselves to creating a sumptuous cuisine, which was unrivalled in history, and which forms the basis of Turkish cuisine today. At the height of the period over one thousand chefs were employed to tempt and delight the Sultan's palate-a fairytale of oriental sensuality.

The chefs drew on all the resources at their disposal, from the influences of the great civilisations that had occupied the land, the Hittites, the Byzantines, the Greeks and Selcuk Turks to the geographical benefits of a long coastline and varied topography that supplies a huge range of produce.The dishes created at the Sultan's court can now be found throughout the countries that were formerly in the Empire kebabs, pilav, aubergine delicacies, feta cheese, dolmas (stuffed vegetables) and of course the sticky, nutty pastries like baklava.

Given this pedigree it is no surprise that visitors to Turkey are delighted at the epicurean pleasures they find there. Over the centuries the Turks have developed a discerning palate, and this includes even simple households, who are connoisseurs of everything from local specialities to the relative merits of different drinking waters.

The setting of the meal is also very important, and people will go out of their way to eat at a restaurant set by running water or in a flowery garden. The Turks are also the original picnic people - perhaps harking back to their nomadic roots. There's nothing they like better than a little al fresco dining - and you can forget the sandwiches. Picnics are often as sumptuous as a meal at home with salads, cheeses, dips, stuffed vegetables and barbecued meat or fish.

Meals are also still very much the focus of Turkish family and social life, the hit and run style of eating has yet to make substantial inroads, and great care is taken over the preparation. In the villages particularly, cooking is still the woman's domain. However, in this fairly traditional society you will still find most professional chefs are men.

Every region has its different specialities, ranging from the spicy oven baked foods of the east, to the Mediterranean and Aegean where olive oil is used to prepare many delicious vegetable and meat dishes. 

(With her permission - taken from the Huzur Vadesi Cookbook compiled by Jane Worrall)