Food:

Turkey is known for their stews of veggies and meat(usually beef or lamb). Some of their signature dishes include Kebabs, Dolma(rice stuffed veggies), and Borek(pastry made with dough and veggies/cheese/meat). A typical breakfast in the winter would be bread and soup, while in the summer bread and jam, goat cheese, olives, hard boiled eggs, and Turkish Tea would be normal. For lunch, stew, a borek or dolma would be typical with fruit for dessert. Supper is usually very light so a Kebab and salad is normal for an evening meal. Because the majority of Turkey is Muslim  a major food taboo is pork. There are other taboos in different regions of turkey as well, i.e. Yuruks don't eat seafood exept for fish.

 

 

                                       Kebab                                                                           Dolma                                                                        Borek

Clothing:

Western clothing is mostly worn by the

upper and middle classes. Some high

fashion companies and designers have

even used traditional Turkish clothing as

inspiration for their designs i.e. the Kaftan,

traditionally a long tunic for men was

revamped into a dress for women.

 

Art:

Ever since the Ministry of Culture started promoting non-religous art by providing scholarships, art has taken off in Turkey. overtime it has become more and more influenced by western styles and influences, although artists still consist of mostly upper and middle class. Performing arts are found mostly in big cities like Ankara and Istanbul, both having symphonies and ballet companies. Literature also took off especially after WW1 in which novelists seemed to be coming from everywhere. Orhan Veli, is percieved as Turkeys modern father of poetry for his non-conformity and inspiring works.

“all the pretty woman thought
the poems i wrote on love
were meant for them.
and i always felt badly
about having written them
just for the hell of it."-Orhan Keli

Housing/Architecture:

HOUSING: Housing in rural areas is determined by surrounding materials. Whether it be mud, wood, or clay, whatever is nearest you is what they use to build their homes. Housing in urban areas, on the other hand, were built around social attributes. The whole point of the home was to keep woman concealed and hidden from the public. Women's only role was to stay in the house and help with cleaning and children. The front of  some houses even had screened windows in the front to keep outsiders from seeing women look through the windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARCHITECTURE: Architecture really took off in 1923 when Turkey became its own Republic, but most of its modern architecture is all thanks to the boom in the 60's, whichis also when a lot of western influences came to play.