FOOD — 04

Meze Culture

Meze is Turkey's tradition of small, shared dishes served at the start of a meal, especially at a meyhane alongside rakı, paced for slow, social dining.

Read time: 3 min Updated: August 2026

What's Actually on the Table

Haydari

Strained yogurt with garlic and herbs

Ezme

Spicy chopped tomato and pepper salad

Sigara Böreği

Fried pastry rolls, often cheese-filled

Dolma

Stuffed grape leaves with rice and herbs

Meze is a course of small shared dishes served at the start of a Turkish meal, especially alongside rakı (an anise-flavored spirit), and ranges from cold vegetable and yogurt-based dishes to warm fried items, typically eaten slowly over conversation rather than as a quick starter. It’s a defining feature of the meyhane (Turkish tavern) dining tradition.

What is meze in Turkish food culture?

Meze covers a wide range of small dishes served before or alongside a main course: cold options like haydari (strained yogurt with garlic and herbs), ezme (spicy tomato and pepper salad), and dolma (stuffed grape leaves), alongside warm items like sigara böreği (fried pastry rolls) and köpoğlu (fried eggplant with yogurt and tomato sauce). At a meyhane, meze arrives first and often continues throughout the meal rather than being cleared before mains, paced to match slow drinking and long conversation — a dining rhythm closer to Spanish tapas culture than a Western appetizer course.

How is meze traditionally eaten?

Dishes are shared across the table, eaten with bread rather than individual portions, and paced deliberately slowly — a proper meyhane meal with meze can run several hours. Rakı, diluted with water and typically drunk alongside meze rather than after, is the traditional pairing, though it’s entirely optional and meze stands fully on its own without it.

Meze and the Meyhane Tradition

The meyhane (tavern) is a specific institution in Turkish, particularly Istanbul, dining culture — informal, convivial spaces built around meze, rakı, live music in some venues, and unhurried, hours-long meals. It’s a genuinely social format rather than efficient dining, closer in spirit to a long dinner party than a restaurant visit.

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Frequently Asked Questions

No — meze is a shared small-dish course typically served in the evening, often alongside rakı at a meyhane, while Turkish breakfast (kahvaltı) is a distinct morning meal with its own separate dishes.


No — meze is commonly ordered and enjoyed without rakı or any alcohol; the food stands on its own, though the pairing is a long-standing tradition for those who drink.

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