We love our food in Turkey!
We believe that Turkish cuisine is one of the best and healthiest cuisines in the world. At Cooking Classes Bodrum we offer recreational cooking holidays in an idyllic setting near Bodrum, overlooking the ancient Bargilya lagoon, where even the birds choose to rest on their journeys to the south. Turkish cuisine is a melting pot of traditions and cultures, developed in the fertile lands at the heart of human civilization. There are endless varieties of recipes, with each region, town, and neighborhood having their own unique food traditions. In Bodrum we have access to fresh produce and seafood all year round, making it the place to take a cooking class and to learn about Turkish cuisine. We specialize in Aegean Turkish cuisine, which is mainly based on olive oil dishes and vegetables and herbs. Our cooking classes are an ideal holiday activity for those interested in healthy eating and unlocking the health benefits of the Turkish way of eating. We have many options for menus and can tailor our cooking courses to suit a wide variety of diets.
We are so lucky to be part of “The Chef & the Dish” sharing kitchens worldwide since 2016, and can go on doing our Turkish Cooking Classes online even in lockdowns. Where ever you are in the world we are just a click away with delicious Turkish Cuisine. Cooking is always fun brings joy to your home let us welcome you in my kitchen here in Turkey, or anywhere in the world with other fellow chefs!
Our main objective is to share our delicious cuisine with people who want to learn about new cultures through food, and to make our cuisine part of your life in your kitchen back home. We want to welcome you to join us in this journey of learning, experiencing, and tasting and to have fun with like-minded people at our daily, weekly, or weekend cookery courses. We also warmly welcome non-cooking partners and friends at our residential cooking classes and offer them a chance to paint alongside our resident artist or just relax and enjoy the area, which has much to offer including beaches, vineyards, and beautiful scenery.
Food and wine pairing dinner at Karnas Vineyards
Olive Harvesting in Halikarnasos
As in many Mediterranean communities, olive growing and harvesting is a way of life around Bodrum. Life goes around looking after the olive trees, harvesting them and finally getting the “liquid gold” after the year’s hard work.
The best part of the olive harvest is gathering together with family, friends and neighbors, and having a great time together while picking the olives.
The olive orchards stretch all over the mountains. With no fences, only the owners know where one olive orchard ends and another starts. Everybody works together in the village. There is a social understanding that you would pick olives from your trees today and help out your neighbor tomorrow. When people come to your area to pick the olives, you offer them good food and make tea on the spot (as always in Turkey, life revolves around food). It is such a great experience to be with these nice people and to share their more than thousand year old olive harvesting traditions, while learning and having a lot of fun.
Healty Aegean Turkish Cuisine
Asli finds that Fodor’s travel guide sums it up perfectly:
“Aegean cuisine is in many ways different from Turkish food elsewhere in the country. The shared Turkish and Greek culture of the region’s past, the climate and soil suitable for growing a wide range of vegetables, and the prevalence of olive trees and olive-oil production have helped the region develop a much more varied and probably healthier way of eating than elsewhere in Turkey. Olive oil replaces butter and fish replaces meat on most menus. The class of dishes generally called zeytinyaglı (literally “with olive oil”) mostly comes from this region; it means vegetables cooked in olive oil, mostly with tomatoes and onions, and served cold. Vegetarians will be in heaven.”
She says “This explains very well our cuisine in this part of our country. I would also add that we take particular care to use the many herbs and vegetables that are grow wild, such as the nettles, mallows, coltsfoot, chicory, mushrooms, wild asparagus, and from the seashore- wild samphire. We also add the flavours of the many citrus orchards around the Bodrum area to some of our dishes, adding a zest and balance to the olive oil. Most of the vegetables found in farmers markets are naturally organic, brought direct from the farmers and village men and women who rise so early to harvest before taking up their spot in the marketplace. I take care to try and use their produce, and would like to introduce our guests to them.”
Cooking Class in Turkey that would bring mostly olive oil and vegetables to your table.
Cooking Class in Turkey, that teaches Turkish home cooking.
