Çorba (= Soup)
Soup is "drunk" in Turkish cuisine. The exact number is unknown, but there are a variety of soups made with meat, vegetables, legumes, yogurt or a combination of ingredients. Many regions have their own variants of soup recipes, some of them are eaten cold. In Turkey it is quite common to have a soup for breakfast. In every larger village there are local soup kitchens "Çorbacı" which offer a wide variety of soup throughout the day. Of course, only fresh white bread is served with this. Since the soups are also very rich in ingredients, they fill you up and give you strength for the day. By the way, in the Turkish language soup is not "eaten" but "drunk".
The word "çorba" is derived from the Persian word "şorba" and stands for a watery and hot drink that is prepared with meat, cereals or vegetables. The soup is deeply rooted in the culture and occupies an important place in Turkish cuisine. This is proven by many expressions in Turkish usage about soups. The history of the first soup goes back to 20,000 years BC. For the preparation of soups waterproof containers were required and the ability to boil the water with fire. The first restaurants in France were originally soup kitchens. With the expansion of the menu, they laid the foundation for today's restaurants. In the past, nomads in Central Asia cooked porridge. Over time, the soup variations that are consumed today emerged. In Central Asia, the Turks made a kind of soup called "Oğmaç". Typically, round cut noodles were used and sometimes dried meat was added as well. Tarhana is a very old Turkish soup that is still available today. The migration of the Turks in Anatolia and their expansion into Europe during the Ottoman period resulted in an interaction with many local and culinary cultures. While there were initially no seafood soups in Turkish cuisine, dishes and soups with seafood from the Black Sea and Aegean Sea have also been included in Turkish cuisine.
Soup is a cheap and nutritious meal. Because of this, the soup was loved and consumed to a great extent in all level of Turkish society. For example, it is known that during the Ottoman period soup was served from the houses of the poorest to the tables of the sultans. Ottoman cuisine was rich in soups. But not only in the Ottoman period, soup was always one of the main elements of Turkish cuisine and an integral part of food culture. Whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner, in today's Turkish cuisine there is soup at any time of the day. It is therefore not surprising that there are many different and rich varieties of soup in Turkish cuisine. In traditional Turkish cuisine, soups are differentiated according to their ingredients, such as cereals and flour, legumes, seafood, meat, chicken, yoghurt and milk, and vegetables. In regions, preference is given to using the ingredients that are abundant.
What I don't want to leave unmentioned is the healing properties of soups. When we have pain in our joints or a cold or flu, we feel uncomfortable. We do not seek healing in medicine, but in the soup of our mothers. And the good news is that it works. Although soup's healing powers are generally justified from a psychological point of view, a laboratory study at the University of Nebraska in December 2017 found that chicken broth soup can actually be effective against the common cold. In 12th century manuscripts, the Cordoba-born Egyptian doctor and philosopher Moshe Ben Maymon suggested drinking chicken broth for colds. Renowned for their longevity, the residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa are also known to drink soup every day before or after meals. The soup is really a fulfilling meal and warms the soul from inside.