Tatar food

The Crimean Tatars have a very rich cuisine. This wealth is the product both of their own inventiveness as well as the fact that they have lived in among several other cultures.
Meat is cooked in its fat until all the water is gone, fish are salted or dried, fruits are made into preserves or compotes, and vegetables are pickled or in the case of tomatoes and peppers, reduced to paste for storage.

Special days such as circumcisions, birthdays, engagements, weddings, births, deaths etc. are very important to the Crimean Tatars. On such days various meat dishes are prepared communally, along with various sweet and savory baked foods such as börek, cookies and pastries.

Green tea and coffee are heavily consumed. Green tea is made by pouring boiling water to a porcelain pot and adding a certain amount of green tea. The tea is poured three times into a small porcelain tea bowl, then returned to the teapot, then drunk with no further steeping. It is believed that making green tea in this way will bring abundance and plenty.

Tea and especially coffee is served accompanied by chocolate, various preserves and cookies.