Turkey is a melting pot of traditional cultures—cultures from both the east and the west. This bridge of cultures creatively link together cuisines and produced its own unique style. With ingredients ranging from the seas to the mountains, the variety of flavors is able to match and fit to many’s dietary preferences. With such popularity, Turkish foods are famed across the world—foods like turkish yogurt, Ayran, for example, has already become familiar to many corners of the world. However, there are many more tastes left to discover in the Euroasian intersection of Turkey. Here is the top 10 of Turkish cuisine:

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10. Yaprak Döner

The Yaprak Döner is another popular dish that is not so foreign in other countries. Döners are sliced meat, artfully roasted on a stick after being dipped in the flavorful herbs and spices of Turkey.

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9. Lahmacun

After flattening the dough into a thin crust, minced meats with onion and vegetables are spread on top of this pizza-like delect. Being a very popular fast food in Turkey, some roll and eat the Lahmacun not unlike a burrito.

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8. Manti

With a skin made of white wheat, this tongue-warming meal can surely satisfy any traveller who have craving for dumplings. Inside the manti are grounded meat—which, depending on flavor, could be beef, lamb or pork—mixed with onions, green onions, garlic, salt, and pepper.

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7. Pilav

Pilav is rice cooked in water with butter and vegetable oil. However, as with others of the Turkish cuisine, it varies with the individual flavor of the chef’s designs. At times, pilav can also be in a noodle form with various different ingredients added.

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6. Ayran

It’s a yogurt made from milk of cows, sheep, or goats. Aside from its gellatinous form, it can also be liquidized and quench your thirst in a time of need. Ayran can be a side dish or a simple snack, accompanying harmoniously with different entreés. Renown for being the yogurt that is served with sugar icing, the excellent health value of this yogurt has pushed its popularity to the point of being manufactured, packaged, and sold in supermarkets.

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5. Boreks

Boreks are a type of Mezes. They are pastries filled with either spinach, cheese, vine leaves, vegetables, mushrooms, fish, peas, beans, or smoked eggplant. Being an appetizer before the maindish, it’s a flexible yet delicious solution to a Turkish chef’s creativity.

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4. Turkish Delights

We have all heard of this tempting sweet from the magical lands in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but Turkish delights are also found from this side of the wardrobe as well. They are jelly candies flavored with rose water. A fusion of almonds, wallnuts, pistachios, dried fruits, and beans, the Turkish delight will gratify to your sweet tooth’s longing lust. A variant of this is the baked delights pudding.

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3. Köfte

These well-known meat balls are served with rice and grilled vegetables. With its spicy taste tingling your tongue, the unique sauce comprising of oregano and cinnamon truly brings upon oneself a memorable experience.

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2. Baklava

The paper-thin sheets of unleavened flour surrounds chopped wallnuts and pistachios in this Middle East dessert. The honey-soaked Baklava will replace your happy place with itself.

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1. Kebaps

We’re sure that you have, if you have not been living under a rock, eaten a version of Kebaps once in your life. For its juicy goodness it has been spread to every continent in the world. Grilled over charcoal flames, this meat on a stick is usually made from beef or lamb—though there are chicken varieties as well. But, even though one may have tasted a version of it in your own country, the original Turkey flavor is very special and much better.

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