While seeing the sights on a trip is always fun, one of my favorite things about traveling is trying new foods. In fact, the grocery store is always a “must-see” on my list of things to do. I love walking up and down the aisles gazing at the different varieties of foods available. I think you can tell a lot about a culture by what you find or don’t find at the grocery store. And of course trying different street vendors, cafes, and restaurants is also a must.

So let’s say that you have one day in Turkey. What are you going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? This post in nearly impossible to write. Every region of this country has special foods and as a foodie I appreciate them all. But let’s go ahead and narrow this down and think in terms of three square meals for the day.

Breakfast

Turkish Breakfast

Turkish breakfast (kahvaltı) is meant to be enjoyed slowly. It includes a huge variety of olives, cheeses, salads, and jams. Some sort of egg also makes an appearance, sometimes hard boiled or as an omelet or scrambled. There is also usually sucuk (Turkish sausage) and of course several varieties of bread. Add a side of tomato and cucumber and wash it all down with a hot glass of tea and you are in for a delightful way to start the day. This all sounds rather healthy but I haven’t told you about my favorite Turkish breakfast item: kaymak and honey. If you are a calorie counter you don’t want to look this one up. Kaymak is a thick, velvety, slightly sweet cream that is perfect with honey on bread. It was one of the very first things I tried upon my arrival in Turkey and it was love-at-first-taste. I have been faithful ever since.

Has Turkish breakfast piqued your interest? You can read more about it here.

This is the cream. Sometimes the kaymak and honey includes the honey comb, such as in this case. — This is ***the*** cream. Sometimes the *kaymak* and honey includes the honey comb, such as in this case.

Lunch

Döner

Some people will argue semantics with me here and say that döner (dough-ner) is actually a kebab. But I would argue that in the minds of locals these are two different things, especially when the döner is served as a sandwich or wrap, which is what I would suggest for lunch. Döner is popular and easy to find, and the lunch version includes shaved meat, lettuce, onion, tomato, sometimes french fries, mayonnaise, ketchup, or a special sauce all on a sandwich or wrapped up in lavaş (a Turkish tortilla). It’s a delicious, quick lunch that pairs well with ayran, a salty yogurt drink similar to buttermilk. Pro tip: Places that sell döner usually have a rotating spit of heated meat in the front of the shop. The larger the spit of meat, the more business they do in a day, which means the food is probably really good.

Dinner

Kebab

When I talk about kebab I’m talking about meat on a skewer grilled over a bed of hot coals. Kebab comes in a lot of varieties with different spices and such but it is always juicy, tender, melt-in-your-mouth meat. Kebabs are typically served with an assortment of salads and breads and sometimes you might get cheese-filled mushrooms or hot hummus. If you want to eat the best kebab that Turkey has to offer you are going to have to make a trip to Adana. You can read about the Adana kebab here and here. But make sure you save some room for dessert because…

Dessert

Künefe

You can’t come to Turkey and not have dessert! There are so many good options here but the one that rises to the top for me is künefe (coon-a-fay). Varieties of this dessert are popular throughout the Middle East but Turkey’s version is a toasted, shredded-wheat type thing with cheese in the middle. Then the whole thing is doused in sugar-water. Don’t look at me like that until you have tried it. You can get it topped with ice cream or the kaymak that I told you about above, or just eat it plain.