A pilot study on food composition of five Turkish traditional foods

The purpose of this paper is to describe methodology and practices undertaken during a pilot study on food composition of Turkish traditional foods (TTF).

The pilot study was conducted under the European Food Information Resource Network (EuroFIR) Project for the systemic investigation of traditional foods. As a partner country of the EuroFIR, Turkey has selected five traditional foods, tarhana soup, yoğurtlu kebap (kebab with yoghurt), hamsi buğulama (anchovy stew), pastırma, and baklava. The traditional recipes of the selected foods were recorded by field studies. Nutritional composition of foods was determined by chemical analyses.

Information on the identification, sampling, sample handling, and analysis was collected for each of the selected foods. The food composition data were evaluated by using EuroFIR standards, and the recommended dietary allowances (RDA) for nutritents. Five TTF were meeting with various nutrient recommendations.

This pilot study on the systemic investigation of traditional foods would be an example for further traditional food studies in Turkey and would enable the generation of reliable, representative and sufficient quality data on TTF.