Traditional Foods in Turkey: General and Consumer Aspects

Abstract

Culture has a significant role in shaping societies, and each culture has specific traditions formed during long periods. Traditions also include eating habits and reflect an expression of culture. Certain food ingredients and food preparation methods being used and transmitted from one generation to the next one are called “traditional foods”, and Turkey is a very rich country in this respect due to the fact that the traditional Turkish cuisine has been influenced by many different cultures like Persian, Hittites and Byzantines. This chapter highlights traditional foods, consumer aspects of Turkish traditional foods, general aspects of traditional foods and innovation in traditional foods.