13. Eating out

Food is an integral part of any tourism experience. It is true that holidaymakers at popular package holiday resorts sometimes look for the sort of food they would eat at home. However, most tourists expect to try dishes that are different, and usually they have high expectations as to the standard of food they are served.

One result of this situation is the use of food as a tourism resource. This is not new. In the past, food-lovers traveled specifically to different regions or countries in order to try the local food. Now many places include their local dishes, wines, or other drinks as part of their tourism identity. Food festivals are another way to use this resource to attract visitors. Gastro-tourism is based principally on marketing the food and drink of a region.

Some holidaymakers arrive with pre-conceived ideas about the food of the country they are visiting because of the fame national dishes acquire. The rice dish paella is often considered to be the national dish of Spain. A national dish can be a drink. Ireland, for example, is often identified with Guinness, a type of beer. However, national dishes quite often hide the richness of a county’s gastronomic heritage, with each region within a country having its own dishes. These will be reflection of the local climate, ingredients, customs, and even history.

14. National cuisine

Turkish cuisine

Turkish food is delicious, rich, and varied. Turkey is self-sufficient in food, and the range of vegetables and fruits available at all times of the year provides a constant source of fresh ingredients. Because of this, the taste and preparation of the wide range of dishes changes with the seasons. We never use tinned or frozen ingredients, unless it is to create a specific taste.

Turkish food has some of its origins in the lifestyle of the people that lived in this region during the time of the Sultans. Even today the evening meal is often the evening’s entertainment. The equivalent of the western ‘starter’ is mezes, which consist of a huge selection of tasty dishes served in the centre of the table, including vegetables, meat, chicken, and seafood all prepared differently. Everyone tastes all of the dishes, which often consist of the same vegetable prepared in a number of very different ways. There are, for example, over 100 ways to prepare auberginers alone.

Eating at home in Turkey of in a traditional Turkish restaurant is never hurried, and the evening meal can last for many hours. The transition from starters to the main course is not always obvious, but typical main course dishes are skewers of succulent lamb or chicken, accompanied by tasty rice dishes.

Desserts are extremely sweet and the perfect complement to the strongly savoury aspect of Turkish food. The wide range of sweet dishes available is a good complement to the equally extensive range of mezes. Visitors to Turkey are often surprised by an unusual Turkish custom. When you eat out, it is not unusual to change restaurants at the dessert stage!

We hope this short culinary guide provides you with an insight into eating in Turkey and gives you another reason to visit this very hospitable country. It only remains to wish you a very sincere, ‘Afiyet olsun’.

Ukrainian cuisine

Ukrainian cuisine is famous for its appetizing variety of dishes. These dishes were devised from a wide choice of products, by combining different recipes and by preparing them in varied ways. For instance, the popular Ukrainian borsch has as many as 20 ingredients; in preparing it the ingredients are boiled as well stewed.

Many meat and fish dishes are fried or stewed to give them an original taste and flavour.

Many dishes in Ukrainian cuisine are stuffed or larded. Especially tasty are dishes with meat and vegetables; cabbage rolls, home-made Ukrainian sausage with onions, potato rolls stuffed with mushrooms, beets and rice, and others.

Ukrainian dishes made from poultry are very popular, for instance Сutlets a la Kiev.

Ukrainian cuisine is rich in dishes made from flour. The most popular are vareniki, mlintzi, buckwheat bread, etc.

Ukrainian cuisine is also rich in fruit and berry desserts and drinks. For centuries Ukrainians have prepared their own national drinks: home-made nalivkas (fruit liquer), brandies, varenukhas, kvass and uzvarets.

As a result of close economic, cultural and trade ties, a number of dishes of different nations from all over the world have been introduced into Ukrainian cuisine. And many Ukrainian dishes – borsch, vareniki, larded meat, home-made sausage, stuffed fish and others are especially popular abroad.

For tasting the authentic Ukrainian food one should go to the traditional restaurant “Puzata Khata”. It’s a good idea to book a table at the restaurant “Kozatske Podvirya” on Khortytsia island.

The hospitality, generosity, and rich emotions of the Ukrainian soul are represented by the traditional cuisine and eating habits of our people.