The present North Cyprus Cuisine is an impressive and attractive culture of culinary arts for all people, because it is a mixture of several styles and eras. First of all, it is the Turkish Cuisine with traditional eastern methods of preparation with different types of meat, special pastry products, food made from rice and a variety of traditional desert. Turkish-Cypriot Cuisine has a unique shape and traditions of preparation and serving the food, which can be found not in every restaurant of North Cyprus. In many cafes and restaurants the main focus is on the traditional Anatolian cuisine, which is very familiar to Istanbul and Antalya. Turkish-Cypriots traditional recipes are the mixture of three different cuisines such as Turkish, Greek and European (especially British), as they were living together for many centuries.
The Turkish-Cypriots widely use olives and olive oil in their menu products, the special sheep's cheese hellim, fresh fish and many varieties of grilled meat. One more influence on the Turkish-Cypriot Cuisine was made by the neighboring Levant’s countries (Levant is an old name for the group of Eastern countries as Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Palestinian territories) and from this the name MEZE was found for the starters on a Cyprus menu.
MEZE is the traditional starter before the main course. It is different kinds of salads which are served hot and cold. In all restaurants of North Cyprus MEZE includes 10 to 15 starters and traditional sauces and they are served in small plates. MEZE can be served by the choice of the customers. First of all the cold starters are served and then the hot starters.
The cold MEZE includes: special olive bread, salted olives, fresh green vegetable salad, marinated vegetables (beetroot, cucumber, and other) fresh yogurt, cacik (yogurt with mint and fresh cucumber), humus (made from chick peas and sesame paste), dolma (rice wrapped in the grape leaves) and so much more.
The hot MEZE includes: grilled cheese hellim, fried octopus or squid, stewed or stuffed eggplant, meat and sausages, grilled onion and soups (in Turkish - corba), liver and onionand more.
After the MEZE, the main course is served. North Cyprus’s most popular main course is meat which is cooked on an open fire; it can be on a skewer or on the grill. A very popular dish is from lamb which is cooked in a special traditional stone oven for about 3 hours. In Greek this dish is called “Kleftiko” and in Turkish it is “Küp Kebab”. One more type of meat which is cooked only in Cyprus is called “Seftali Kebab”. This is a type of minced lamb meat which is formed according to the old traditional Cyprus recipe and cooked on grill. Also very popular in North Cyprus is fresh fish which is fried or grilled as a whole or in small pieces. From the vegetable dishes in Turkish-Cypriot cuisine the most famous is stewed vegetables and mushrooms with cheese on top and baked in the oven. The Turkish name of this dish is “Sebzeli Guveç”. Next to the main dish rice is always served (which is cooked according to the Turkish recipe and named “pilaf”) and French potato chips.
At the end of every meal is served a varied selection of traditional sweets and fresh fruit. From the sweets the most popular is sütlac (rice pudding), kazandebi, baklava, ekmek kadeifi, asure and madgun. After all you will be offered a cup of famous Turkish coffee.
