Turkish American Food

To understand the depth and breadth of Turkish American food, one must first understand the anatomy and history of Turkey and its borders, which touch the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, Greece, the Black Sea, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and the cultures encompassed in its geography: Arab, Armenian, Balkan, Byzantine Greek, Egyptian, European, Jewish (Sephardic), Kurdish, Persian, Syrian Orthodox Christian, Mongol, Seljuk, and Central Asian Turks.

In addition, in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks defeated their Byzantine rivals, they created an empire that at its height in 1684 included the coast of North Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East, and reached the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. As a nexus of the major trade routes between Europe, Asia, and the Persian Gulf, Ottoman Turks had access to foods and spices from around the world via the trade routes they controlled and taxed.