Join Zeynep Kilic of Anchorage’s Turkish Delight as she teaches us some of her favorite Turkish Meze dishes! Meze occupies an important place in Turkish communal dining culture and represents small, shareable plates that either are served as starters or are full meals for a slow paced dining experience, usually accompanying drinking (especially raki, a distilled grape and anise flavored spirit, named lion’s milk for its cloudy, milky appearance when mixed with water or ice). Always served in a social setting, they are meant to be shared. There are hundreds of mezes that range from cold dips such as cacik and humus (served first), to olive oil based dishes such as dolma, to fried veggies, warm pastries, seafood, meat, offals and beyond. 

As the Ottoman Empire stretched through a large portion of the Middle East, and because Spice and Silk Roads traversed through its lands, best products and culinary knowledge from all across the Empire travelled to Istanbul and got refined in the Ottoman Palace kitchens. As the Ottoman Empire was ethnically diverse, non-Muslim populations owned and operated Istanbul’s taverns where drinking took place and meze culture reigned supreme. Ottoman Greeks and Armenians were especially important in this gastronomical culture, particularly in Istanbul. 

We will try our hand at 3 kinds of mezes in this class:

1. Yogurt based meze: havuc & kabak tarator (carrot & zucchini dip) - vegetarian, includes nuts & dairy, GF

2. Cheese based meze: kozlenmis peynirli biber (roasted pepper & feta cheese)- vegetarian, includes nuts & dairy, GF

3. Warm meze/pastry: kiymali muska boregi (ground beef stuffed phyllo & puff pastry)- includes meat and gluten