Ottoman Food Map
Anise Liquor | Coffee | Octopus | Falafel & Hummus | Rotating Meat | Grape Leaves
Dolma/Japrak/Mahshi/Yapraq/Tolma/Dolmades
Grape leaves stuffed with rice and pine nuts are perhaps the most pernicious regional food, being both omnipresent and not particularly tasty. Given the wide range of things that can and are stuffed in the region - eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, squid, fish, mussels, and cabbage leaves, to name just a few - and the equally wide range of things they can be stuffed with - well, meat really - the blandness of the generic grape leaf is an affront. In fact, in many of the regions languages, leaves stuffed with anything but meat are called 'yalanji' or 'liar' dolma.
Grape leaves stuffed with rice and pine nuts are perhaps the most pernicious regional food, being both omnipresent and not particularly tasty. Given the wide range of things that can and are stuffed in the region - eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, squid, fish, mussels, and cabbage leaves, to name just a few - and the equally wide range of things they can be stuffed with - well, meat really - the blandness of the generic grape leaf is an affront. In fact, in many of the regions languages, leaves stuffed with anything but meat are called 'yalanji' or 'liar' dolma. 