Month: July 2026

Is All This for Free with My Meal?

M's Adventures
At Kebapci Euup Usta, this is the standard free salads/mezze with a kabob meal.

When you order Adana kebab, or any kind of kebab, you will be given some free dishes. This is how it is supposed to be. If a place charges you for these salads that they bring to you, don’t go there again. Also, don’t go back if the place charges you too much (Recently I was charged 3,000 Turkish Lira for a mixed grill for two people — that is too much!).

These free salads or appetizers will arrive before your meal but you can continue to eat them during your meal to use in your sandwich. Most kabobs are eaten as a handheld wrap. There will usually be salt and red pepper powder on the table as well. Some places include grape molasses which alongside the lemons allow you to create your own dressing for the sandwich or salads. Most of the salads area already dressed with grape molasses or sumac. Most places will include a plate of herbs and lemons. Always parsley, often mint, and sometimes dill too. Many Turks will eat parsley straight up while waiting for the rest of the food. Sort of treating parsley like a breadstick.

At Han Kebap, they give you individual salads and “cig kofte” wraps.

Really basic places will give you smaller portions or simply the herbs and the onion salad. And large places will give you lots of salads including the basics, some with shallots only, cooked onion salads, and some even include baked “pizza” items like pide or lahmacun.

At Han Kebap, their spicy wet salad is excellent.

The thing with kabobs is that they are customizable and completely up to you how you want to eat it. I usually use a fork and knife. Many places will give you a fork and a spoon only. Many Turks use a spoon to eat the salads. I personally quite like eating things that only require a spoon.

At Hand Kebap, they serve mini pide with cheese. Yummy.

If you order a kabob, it will be served with bread, usually a flat or flatter bread like pita/pide, or a lavash/tortilla style bread. Some places have rice that you can order as well.

Chicken kabob.

Another thing is that all kabobs are served with a grilled chili pepper and a bit of tomato. This chicken kabob meal including the salads, an ayran yogurt drink, and tea cost me 540 Turkish lira. I’m told that it was a bit pricey but that I was paying for the view of the hospital… and the English speaking waiter.

The Realities of Life in Adana

M's Adventures

So I wrote about the great things about living in Adana. Now, here are the things that are not so great.

The hot summers: It gets up to 110 F (44 C) almost every day for a few weeks and the rest of the three or so months (mid-June through mid-September) the temperature will be above 90 F (32 C) during the day for months on end. This heat is not too sticky but it’s not completely dry and you still sweat. A lot. There is one good thing about this heat and that is that there are minimal outdoor activities or anything outdoors during this time. And there is lots of air conditioning.

The smoking. They smoke. A lot. Even inside restaurants.

The traffic. Yes, it’s bad. In the city. The roads are in bad condition. Not everyone follows the rules. Is the traffic worse than Dhaka? No.

Chaos but no animals in the streets.

The flies — well that ONE fly that goes straight for my mouth when I step outdoors. Or buzzes around our food at the breakfast places. Ugh. Usually it is not a big fly. But after I bought the electric fly swatter, life changed. Now I just have to figure out a way to attach the fly swatter to my face…

The lack of international items other than Japanese sushi rolls. No real Indian food. None. There is pasta with curry or rice with curry but it’s nothing like curry.

The language. It’s hard.

Other parts of Turkiye look down on this city. Many treat it like the ugly step child… It seems like lots of people come from Adana but have left.

But, even with all these negative things about Adana, I like this city. Maybe because it’s the underdog.

Getting to Know the Goat of the Goat Cheeses

M's Adventures
A “tulum” cheese waiting for purchase.

I like to sit in the front seat of the taxi so I can enjoy the sights out the window. Sometimes I see things that surprise me. One day, I saw a goat torso waving at me… I had to stop and take photos. It’s cheese made inside a goat. It is the goat of goat cheese. Some might even say the G.O.A.T., greatest of all time, of goat’s cheese.

A “tulum” cheese that has been cut into.

This cheese is called “tulum” or “goatskin/sheepskin” cheese. There are local varieties with some being placed in brine after cutting, akin to Greek feta. The cheese is aged for three to six months inside the skin.

The cheese is fairly strong in flavor but not as much as one would think.

The Origins of Swedish Meatballs

M's Adventures
Turkish meatballs are usually this shape although they can also be round.

I see the köfte (the Turkish meatball) everywhere in modern-day Turkish cooking. Never once have I thought how Swedish it seemed. It is surprising to think of it having a connection to Sweden. But, recently, I learned the origins of the Swedish meatball (köttbullar). Apparently, a Swedish King brought back the meatball from his travels to the Ottoman Empire.

In 1708, King Charles XII of Sweden decided to invade Russia. After a military defeat in 1709, he fled to the Ottoman Empire. The Swedish king went into exile for five days… but stayed for as a guest of the Ottoman Empire for five years. The Swedish king was at the Ottoman court for so long that the Ottoman treasury (who funded him) gave him the nickname, “registered immovable property.”

When King Charles XII returned to Swedish, he and his troops had acquired a taste for the Ottoman flavors ofmeatballs, stuffed cabbage, coffee, and sherbet. These foods entered the Swedish cuisine. The Swedish meatball was adapted to meet local tastes, including a creamy gravy, and lingonberry jelly. The first printed recipe for Swedish meatballs was in the 1755 cookbook by Swedish chef Casja Warg. As for the king, in 1718 when he tried to invade Denmark, again, he was fatally shot in the head.

Ikea in Turkiye sells the Swedish meatballs as a sandwich.

With the rise of Ikea, Swedish meatballs have become an internationally known dish. There is an Ikea store in Adana, out at the M1 mall, and they sell Swedish meatballs. You can even eat them at the cafe in the store. They are all beef as this is Adana.

In the freezer section at Ikea in Adana.

I wonder if the Turks enjoying the Swedish meatballs at Ikea think about the Turkish origins of their Swedish meatballs.