Abstract:

Human beings have met the nutritional needs in various forms from past to present. Accordingly, the emergence and development of Traditional Anatolian Culinary Culture that constitute our major subject can be evaluated in five main groups. 1. Hunter Gatherer Nutrition Period: This is the period between the first appearance of human being on earth and his settlement (the Neolithic Period). In this period, people around the world were fed by eating plants and animals gathered and hunted from nature. 2. Period between the First Settlement (9th-8th millennium BC) in Anatolia and A.D. X. Century: In this period, many localities and states in Anatolia were founded. The most important of these were the Hattians, Hittites and Urartians. The major diet of these civilizations consisted of grain and grain products, legumes, sheep, goats, cattle and poultry. 3. Anatolian Seljuks and Principalities Period: The information about the culinary culture of Seljuks that came and settled Anatolia especially after the year 1041 in large groups, can be retrieved from the Divanu Lügati’t Türk of Kaşgarlı Mahmud (1072), Kutatgu Bilig of Yusuf Has Hacip (XI. Century), pieces of Mevlana (Mesnevi, Divan-ı Kebir, Mektübat, Mecalis-i Seb’a XIII. Century) and the fairy tales of Dede Korkut from 14th century. The culinary culture introduced from Central Asia during this period was integrated with the culture of the people residing in Anatolia. 4. Ottoman Empire Period: This period covers the time interval between the establishment of the Ottoman Empire (1299) and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey (1923).The culinary culture was evolved in parallel with the development of the Ottoman Empire. Cooks in the kitchen competed with each other to appeal to the sultan and his courtiers to make meals and to make the banquets literally spectacular, and contributed to the enrichment of Ottoman cuisine culture. 5. Republican Period (1923-Present): Primarily, the resources about the Anatolian culinary culture were mostly attributed to the Istanbul cuisine; we can state that it has been developed and got richer in the course of time due to economic and technological development and increased communication. Thanks to the aforementioned development, local food has become known in other regions as well. Today, technological developments have significantly influenced Traditional Anatolian Culinary Culture. Oil refining, replacement of butter and internal fat with margarine, intensive use of sugar as a sweetener instead of honey and molasses, use of white flour by wheat purification instead of whole-wheat flour, introducing canned, ready-meals, food additives and sweeteners to the kitchen, modification of cooking tools, marketing of GMO products are the leading factors for the transformation of Traditional Culinary Culture.

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