The standard Turkish breakfast is the most important of the three meals. Well, at least one of the top three. It always involves small amounts of

• black olives
• feta cheese
• sliced tomatoes
• boiled or fried eggs
• bread
• butter
• black tea (used to be coffee before 1970s)

usually with added small amounts of

• green olives
• cucumbers
• kaşar cheese (cheddar-like mature cheese)
• honey
• jam
• simit (round dry bread with sesame)
• börek (pie)
• pastırma (pastrami)
• sucuk (spiced sausages)
• soup
• fried aubergines or pepper
• some fruits

You can google “kahvaltı” (breakfast), (meaning “prior to coffee”) and see it is always the usual suspects.

There are varieties and extras in breakfast.

The city that is usually accepted as best in breakfast is Van, in the far South East.

Gaziantep has its breakfast speciality of katmer, a pie with pistachio and cream.

Not to mention Şanlıurfa’s liver kebab breakfast.