Then I heard a voice coming from far away: “simitçiiiiiii”. It was the voice of our neighborhood’s early bird. The ‘simit seller’. He’s one of the few simitçi’s who pass from our street every morning. Immediately, I rose up from bed, opened my window to morning. The cherry tomatoes I got from the farmer’s market yesterday, a ready to eat avocado, ‘örgü peyniri’ (a special local cheese from the Eastern part of Turkey)
and my green olives would be a perfect match for a simit. Unfortunately when I get dressed and reach to the balcony, he was walking away. I thought another one would come but no, none came after him. So I had to go to the local market to buy two simits. One for me, one for mom. I prepared the tea, cut the tomatoes and prepared the rest of the breakfast.
Breakfast is important for us, Turks. We want our tea (not a teabag, real, brewed tea for our breakfast. One glass wouldn’t be enough. We don’t enjoy large mugs for tea. It should be glass with a thin belly which keeps the tea hot. With tea, cheeses, butter, olives and jams are served. At times (depending on the season) tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, even parsley and fresh greens are added.
Omlette is not a must but be present on the weekend breakfasts. It could be eggs with ‘sucuk’ too. Sucuk is similar to sausage in a way. Ground meat mixed with some spices and garlic is filled in dried, cleaned intestines and let be dried for sometime. It used to be made at home in the past. Some families still make it I guess but it’s not made at our house anymore. I don’t eat it since I don’t eat meat but ‘sucuk’ is a beloved breakfast companion for many Turks.
Breakfasts won’t be ready without breads. It could be homemade bread or bread from the baker. It could be white and sponge like or brown and tough. It depends on your taste and decision but we love bread! Yes, we may prefer ‘simit’ to bread at times but we don’t have simit for breakfast everyday, don’t worry. Were breakfasts be like that fifty years ago? No, soups would have been eaten in many households. With a ‘tarhana’ or ‘mercimek çorbasi’ (lentil soup), homemade filo pastry would be served. Cheese? Yes, at some houses. Olives and oliveoil? Yes, if you live in the Aegean region. Butter and jam? Not jam at so many places but tahini and pekmez (grape molasses) mixture would be great for winter!
In each region, the breakfast tradition is different. It totally depends on what you have on hand or what you grow or can prepare. If you have sheep, cows or goats, cheese would be a part of your breakfast. If you own chicken, boiled or cooked eggs would be for breakfast. Soup is still preferred at some regions but it can be served with cornbread in the Blacksea region where wheat bread would be at hand in the central Anatolia. So much could be added to this breakfast issue but let me add the pictures to speak for it…
This pastry is made by my friend Sema few weeks ago for breakfast. It’s called ‘cantik’ and is made by Tatars mostly. It’s filled with mashed and spiced potatoes (normally a meat filling is preferred) and made with wholewheat flour. It’s made with white flour by many women.
This actually was a lunch photo but it could be eaten for breakfast too. I took this last summer when we visited an oliveoil factory in Edremit (a Northeastern Aegean town). We had olives and oliveoil, the bread came from a nearby village, cheese from around and tomates were from the garden. It was a great lunch if you ask me. I could eat it for 3 times a day in summer!
This is a ricotta-like homemade cheese. We don’t normally serve cheese with fruits and fruits are not a usual breakfast item but I like making that cheese with herbs and dried tomatoes. In Turkey an easy to made cheese, ‘çökelek’ is made at many houses. You might have heard making cheese by adding a bit of sour element (either lemon juice or vinegar). That’s how I made it. (If you want the recipe of this cheese, please visit yogurtland where you can find it.)
This is one of my favorite breakfasts. I have it once in a while and cannot forget. My friends own a boutique hotel on the Ida mountains. Their chef (and one of the owners) Erhan is a talented chef. He and his sister Menend prepares one of the greatest breakfasts of the region. You might want to experience it yourself. For more info check their website: www.zeytinbagi.com
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE YOUR OWN BREAKFAST IDEAS WITH US?
18 comments:
What can I say? I want to have breakfast by the sea now! Also your blog will be added to the International Food Blog list I maintain. Everyone should now more about the food culture of Turkey!
thank you so much jeanne.
I wanted to thank you for adding my blog to your list. I'll though!
tijen
Nice post Tijen! Really nice pics. That picture of a lunch looks so inviting. Very simple, yet tasty. As you said, I could it the same things 3 times a day. My husband is getting used to our style of breakfast, only in idea though! I am wondering how long it will take him to eat his first olive and feta cheese at the breakfast table :)
Great post Tijen, as always. A Turkish style breakfast is one of our best rituals and I miss it very much here. People are leaving their houses without eating anything at all here, having a cheese pie and a coffee on the go is the general habit. They do now know what they are missing! Enjoy simit by the way, the most wanted by the Turks all over the world:-)
You should put a warning Tijen,like "If you are craving for turkish food and living outside Turkey, do look away now" or something like this :)
I loved newspaper picnic photo. As famous as tartan picnic here :)
isn't that great betül? I mean the photo. That was one of the tastiest meals I had. And I didn't want it be over.
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tülin'cigim,
yes you're right but the greek böreks are great aren't they? I enjoyed having fresh börek when I was in Athens.
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ah fethiye! do you think he'll get used to it? so hard but who knows?
Can you post the recipe for the ricotta-like homemade cheese? It looks so good!
makes me want to fly to Turkey right now just for the smell of simits?
My mouth is watering! Turks prepare the best breakfast in the known universe. I'm going back to Turkey for my third visit in about 10 days; I'm planning to do a video blog about Turkish breakfasts while I'm there. Afiyet olsun!
nice.
http://yuvakuran.blogspot.com/2006/03/announcement.html
hope you'll have good time in turkey andy!
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I'll check your site haluk!
tijen
what a nice way to start your day.
we also have simit here in greece ("koulouri") but i don't think we are that fortunate to have sellers passing by. You only see them downtown or in central places and people who are in a hurry to go to work, grab a couple of koulouria.
Greeks are not big on breakfast -especially Athenians- which is bad. I like toast with grilled cheese, coffee and milk and orange juice. But for weekends, scrambled eggs and mushrooms. yum!
good day!
I love food like this ! thanks ;)
I am so glad I found your blog! These pictures are so beautiful, and I love (real) Turkish food so, so much. Sigh. I wish I were there now. Thank you!
I spent 3 months in Turkey. One of the things that I loved, was the breakfast, served at out hotel. Similar to what you've described. Typically we had - boiled eggs, bread, butter, jam, some type of beef salami type meat, cheese, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, orange jiuce, hot tea, and perhaps some fresh fruit. The breakfast was filling and held me all the way til noon.. but not heavy at all! Since the day I stepped foot back into the US, that has been the staple breakfast in my home!
Can you post a recipe for Cantik? Thank you.
Merhaba. The first time I experienced a Turkish breakfast was when my husband and I stayed over at our family friends' place. Teyze made Turkish breakfast for us, while it is not 100% authentic due to the lack of Turkish products available in Singapore, I had such an eye opening experience!
Now, I can't wait to try the real deal in Turkey myself. When you talked about the woman making cheese in Kars, you reminded me of my sister-in-law who stays in Kars and sells her homemade cheese for a living :)
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