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50 free Turkish Food trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Turkish cuisine grew out of the Ottoman court kitchen, which fused Central Asian cooking with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences and then spread that mix across the Balkans, the Levant and North Africa. The result is a table that runs from a sprawling breakfast of cheeses, olives and menemen, through mezes, dolma and a bewildering family of kebabs, to baklava, künefe and milk puddings thickened with chicken breast. This quiz covers the regions — Black Sea anchovies, Kayseri mantı, Gaziantep pistachios, Bursa's İskender kebab — and the icons: the two-teapot method for çay, coffee brewed in a copper cezve and read for fortunes, rakı with şalgam, simit sellers in Istanbul since 1525, and the döner sandwich that Turkish guest workers turned into Berlin's signature fast food. There are questions on cheeses, soups, street food, Ramadan sweets and the English word borrowed from Turkish for a fermented milk product. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for a food-themed quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Turkish cuisine developed primarily from the cooking of which earlier state?
Ottoman Empire
Ottoman court cooking synthesised Central Asian traditions with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences.
Q 02Hamsi, a staple of Black Sea cooking in Turkey, is what kind of fish?
Anchovy
Black Sea fish are usually fried in thick corn flour, and the region also leans heavily on maize dishes.
Q 03Mantı, the small stuffed dumplings, are especially associated with which Central Anatolian city?
Kayseri
The name is cognate with the Chinese mantou, and the dish is thought to have originated in 13th-century Mongolia.
Q 04How does Urfa kebap differ from Adana kebap?
It is less spicy and thicker
Both come from the southeast, where the cuisine is famous for kebabs, mezes and dough-based desserts.
Q 05The Turkish word for breakfast, kahvaltı, literally means what?
Before coffee
Despite the name, it is Turkish tea that is invariably served at breakfast.
Q 06Menemen, a Turkish breakfast speciality, is built around which ingredient?
Eggs
Tomatoes, green peppers, onion and olive oil go in alongside; çılbır pairs poached eggs with yogurt instead.
Q 07Lakerda, traditionally served with rakı at taverns, is pickled what?
Bonito
Fish are also eaten smoked (isleme) or dried (çiroz) along the coasts.
Q 08Cacık blends garlic, dried mint and olive oil with which vegetable into a cold dairy dip?
Cucumber
It often accompanies pilav or bulgur, and dried mint and olive oil finish the meze version.
Q 09About how much pistachio does the average person in Turkey eat per year?
1.5 kg
Pistachios, chestnuts, almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts all feature heavily in desserts such as baklava.
Q 10Kuyruk yağı, sometimes used in kebabs, is fat from which part of a sheep?
The tail
Butter, olive, sunflower, canola and corn oils are the everyday cooking fats.
Q 11Hoşaf, a compote served beside meat or pilav, takes its name from a Persian phrase meaning what?
Nice water
In Ottoman cooking fruit routinely accompanied meat, and dolma and pilav still carry currants or raisins.
Q 12Which English food word is borrowed directly from Turkish?
Yogurt
Ayran, the most common cold drink in Turkey, is simply yoğurt mixed with water and a little salt.
Q 13How many different cheeses does Turkey produce, according to the count cited on its cuisine page?
193
Only eight of them carry a geographical indication; most are made from sheep's milk and not long-matured.
Q 21Un helvası, or flour helva, is traditionally cooked on what occasion?
After someone has died
Other helvas use semolina and pine nuts, walnuts or almonds, or crushed sesame.
Q 22Güllaç, layers of thin dough in milk and rose water, is typically served during which period?
Ramadan
Palace legend held that the dough had to be opened with prayers or it would never come out thin enough.
Q 23Legend says aşure, the sweet soup of beans, wheat and dried fruit, was first cooked where?
On Noah's Ark
It is still cooked during the month of Muharrem across Anatolia.
Q 14Beyaz peynir, the salty brined cheese on every breakfast table, takes its name from what?
Its white colour
It is similar to feta but milder, and goes into menemen, börek and pide.
Q 15Kaşar, sometimes marketed as 'Turkish cheddar', is made mainly from which animal's milk?
Cow
It is occasionally mixed with sheep's or goat's milk; the Kars and Thrace varieties are the popular ones.
Q 16Tulum cheese is traditionally moulded and aged inside what?
An animal-skin bag
Regional tulums from İzmir, Elazig and Erzincan all taste quite different from one another.
Q 17Van herbed cheese, otlu peynir, is traditionally flavoured in Van with which herb?
Wild garlic
Bitlis uses a damp-loving herb called sof otu, while other areas use horse mint.
Q 18Baklava in Turkey is made with either walnuts or which other nut?
Pistachios
Şöbiyet, bülbül yuvası, sütlü nuriye and burma are its baklava-like cousins.
Q 19Künefe is wire kadayıf layered with what, and served hot?
Melted cheese
It is rich in syrup and butter and topped with pistachios or walnuts.
Q 20Tavuk göğsü is a sweet milk pudding given a chewy texture by which surprising ingredient?
Chicken breast
Kazandibi is its close relative, named for the burnt surface from the bottom of the pot.
Q 24Tahin-pekmez mixes sesame paste with a syrup made from which fruit?
Grapes
The two are sold separately and combined just before eating, especially in rural areas.
Q 25Mesir macunu, the spiced paste of Manisa, contains how many different spices?
41
It was handed out on the first day of spring in the Ottoman palace and is still believed to have healing effects.
Q 26Hünkârbeğendi, lamb over a purée of grilled eggplant and cheese, has a name meaning what?
The sultan liked it
Hünkâri kebabı, the 'Sultan's kebab', is a related dish of sliced lamb with aubergine purée.
Q 27Karnıyarık, fried eggplant stuffed with minced meat, has a name that translates as what?
Split belly
İmam bayıldı is the same dish without the minced meat and can be served as a meze.
Q 28Çiğ köfte, a meze from south-eastern Turkey, takes its name from what?
Raw meatballs
Most restaurants now omit the raw meat and use extra-fine bulgur instead.
Q 29Sucuk, commonly eaten at breakfast, is what kind of food?
A spiced raw sausage
Made with beef, garlic and spices, it is the default filling for toasts and sandwiches across Turkey.
Q 30Kokoreç, a cheap traditional street food, is made from which part of a sheep?
The intestines
Kelle, roasted sheep's head, and Arnavut ciğeri, fried liver with onion and sumac, are other offal classics.