Ottoman Food
I found out I am to thank the Ottomans for a lot of my favorite things to eat and drink:
- Baklava (which dates back two thousand years, to the Assyrian Empire)
- Coffee made the Right Way™
- The modern kebab
- Shawarma
- Sherbet
- Dolma (stuffed food) and Sarma (wrapped food)
- An ancestor of the hummus: a chickpea spread flavored with cinnamon, pine nuts, and currants. Consumed with bread and popular in the 15th century
- Ayran: My absolute favorite thing to drink on a hot day. Couldn’t find many differences between ayran and the laban I grew up drinking.