About
Food tradition of Asia Minor Lying at the heart of Asia Minor, Anatolia was the cradle of civilizations, including the Hittites, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans, for many centuries. It connected the east and west not only geographically but culturally as well. It was the melting pot of rich cultures of Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Georgians and many more. Asia Minors varied cuisine reflects the countrys history as the epicenter of trade between Europe and Asia. Exotic spice markets and historic covered bazaars offer treasures from four corners of the globe. Being the refined product of centuries of experience, the modern Asia Minor Cuisine has a very pure quality. The variety and simplicity of the recipes and the quality of the ingredients are guarantees of delicious meals. Asia minor cuisine is seen as one of the three richest and oldest cooking traditions of the world together with French and Chinese cooking. While it has come to be associated with kebap, baklava, lokum and ayran there is a rich and variegated tradition of soups, olive oil dishes, rice pilafs, stuffed vegetables, pastries, puddings and syrupy desserts. It offers unique tastes in spicy appetizers, pickles, fruit preserves, sherbet and of course, coffee. The diversity of Anatolian cuisine reflects the cultures of the populations living in regions highly dissimilar in geography and climate. This has led to an abundance of ingredients and cooking styles. The Southeast and the East are known for the dishes based on cracked wheat and meat with hot spices, the Aegean, for olive oil dishes enhanced with local herbs, the Black Sea region, for varieties of anchovy and collard, and Istanbul is a world unto itself with, among others, eggplant dishes which come in no less then 41 sorts. The modern stanbulian cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced neighboring cuisines, including that of western European. The Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their own with influences from Middle Eastern cuisines, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia. All these unique characteristics and history have bestowed upon the Asia Minor Cuisine a rich and varied number of dishes, which can be prepared and combined with other dishes in meals of almost infinite variety. Today Anatolia is a region coined as the "bread basket of the world". Turkey, even now, is one of only a few countries in the world which produces enough food to feed everyone and then some to export. At Anatolian Foods we are proud to be a part of the culinary tradition. We focus on importing traditional food products and ingredients that have contributed in making Turkish cuisine one of the best in the world.
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