Another breakfast story

I have never been a breakfast person. Back in Colombia, until the early age of seventeen (ish), FRUIT was mandatory, eggs were only for weekends and most kinds (if not any) of savoury products were off the list. 
(Ok, maybe not all of them... Who can say no to a lovely piece of cheesy toast, or a typical sausage-and-scrambled-egg kinda breakfast?)

At least I can’t. Hardly.

However, things changed, and when I went to France, I was definitely allowed to say that savoury products were off the list. All of them. For a typical French, having eggs for breakfast can be as unreal as having... Cereal for dinner (mmm...). And when it comes to breakfast, they can stand proud of their cuisine and tell anyone croissant and pain au chocolat, accompanied by a good cup of coffee (or orange juice, for that matter) can be as good as it gets.

But that's because they haven't lived in Turkey.

Source: http://www.mrandmrsunsal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Turkish-Breakfast%28pp_w660_h449%29.jpg 

The first Turkish breakfast I had was two days after I stepped foot in Antalya. Everything seemed normal on the table, until I saw cucumbers and tomatoes, finely chopped, peacefully lying on the table, sprinkled wih sea salt and a few drops of lemon. And, a bit further, black and green olives. Breakfast, anyone?
Yeah, every breakfast has its magic, and the Turkish one is far from being behind. Found everywhere around town, a traditional kahvaltı has bread (all kinds of, my favourite so far being açma or plain white bread), olives, tomatoes and cucumbers, cheese (feta-style, Beyaz, or a more sober-ish one, Kaşar), eggs (yumurta), sucuk (a sausage made out of garlic and spices. A must. Forget about diet), butter, jam, figs and honey.

And finally, tea. Lots, lots, loooots of tea. Because we all love tea 'round here.

Çay.

Number 1: Discovering the morning side of tomato and cucumber.

 

 Number 2:  Jaaaaam all the way!

Number 3: First homemade Turkish breakfast. *proud*

Even if it takes a bit of time to get used to it (tomatoes and cucumber are a part of my daily, uhm, dinner salad), Turkish breakfast is simply delicious. Along with its different versions and its many additions (Baslama, a “pizza-shaped” homemade bread filled with cheese, or gözleme, a savoury dough pastry filled with feta cheese and parsley), it is a great way of getting up on a lazy weekend, having delicious food and starting the day with your energy over the moon. It is also the best time to share a moment with your loved ones; breakfast is traditionally served in a big table, a yer sofrasi, where guests can gather around and enjoy a convivial moment.

Obviously, as every beautiful sin, it can’t always be eaten during the week (whyyyy?). But not to worry, weekdays’ breakfast can also be fun. The school cafeteria, as well as every single bakery in town has a greatgreatgrand variety of bread (poğaça, açma, simit), along with a bunch of stuff you can only find in Turkey, such as börek (a meat, cheese or vegetable-filled pastry) and its variants (su böreği, sigara böreği), and others I'm sure I haven’t discovered yet.

And çay.

So, traditional breakfast comes as an addition to my endless list of “Reasons-of-looking-forward-to-the-weekend”. But in the meantime, having to work every day and going through a massive sleeping strike, I can get happy with this:

Number 4: My fave.

Afiyet olsun :)