Meze

Meze (also spelled mezze or mezé) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in Levantine, Turkish, Balkan, Armenian, Kurdish, and Greek cuisines. It is similar to Spanish tapas and Italian antipasti. A meze may be served as a part of a multi-course meal or form a meal in itself. Meze are often served with spirits such as arak, rakia, raki, oghi, ouzo, or grappa at meyhane and ouzeri or at regular restaurants.

Etymology
The word meze is found in all the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, borrowed from Turkish, which in turn had borrowed it from the Persian maze or maza (مَزه) meaning 'taste' or 'relish'.

Common dishes


In Turkey, meze often consist of beyaz peynir 'white cheese', kavun (sliced ripe melon), acılı ezme (hot pepper paste often with walnuts), haydari (thick strained yogurt with herbs), patlıcan salatası (cold eggplant salad), beyin salatası (brain salad), kalamar tava (fried calamari), midye dolma and midye tava (stuffed or fried mussels), enginar (artichokes), cacık (yogurt with cucumber and garlic), pilaki (foods cooked in a special sauce), dolma or sarma (rice-stuffed vine leaves or other stuffed vegetables, such as bell peppers), Arnavut ciğeri (a liver dish, served cold), octopus salad, and çiğ köfte (raw meatballs with bulgur). A selection of mezes can be served as appetizers in a multi-course dinner, or as snacks accompanying drinks such as rakı.

In Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and the rest of the Balkans, mezé, mezés or mezédhes (plural) are small dishes, hot or cold, spicy or savory. Seafood dishes such as grilled octopus may be included, along with salads, sliced hard-boiled eggs, garlic bread, kalamata olives, fava spread, fried vegetables, melitzanosalata (eggplant salad), taramosalata, fried or grilled cheeses called saganaki, and sheep, goat, or cow cheeses.

Popular meze dishes include the following.

Other meze dishes include cheeses (such as halloumi, labneh, tulum, or shanklish) or meat dishes (like afelia, lountza, or pastirma), fish (like fried whitebait, calamari).

In Greece, meze is commonly served as a plate of snacks to accompany drinks such as ouzo and tsipouro.

In Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Cyprus, meze is often a meal in its own right. There are vegetarian, meat or fish mezes. Groups of dishes arrive at the table about four or five at a time (usually between five and ten groups). There is a set pattern to the dishes: typically olives, tahini, salad, and yogurt will be followed by dishes with vegetables and eggs, then small meat or fish dishes alongside special accompaniments, and finally more substantial dishes such as whole fish or meat stews and grills. Establishments will offer their own specialties, but the pattern remains the same. Naturally the dishes served will reflect the seasons. For example, in late autumn, snails will be prominent. As so much food is offered, it is not expected that every dish be finished, but rather shared at will and served at ease.

In the Balkans, meze is very similar to an Italian antipasto in that cured cold-cuts, cheese and salads are dominant and cooked foods are not included. In Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro it includes hard or creamy cheeses, kajmak (clotted cream) or smetana cream, salami, ham and other forms of suho/suvo meso (cured pork or beef), kulen (paprika flavoured, cured sausage), cured bacon, ajvar, and various savory pastries. For Muslims, meze replaces pork products with sudžuk (dry, spicy sausage) and the pastirma-like cured beef suho meso. In southern Croatia, Herzegovina, and Montenegro, cured meat such as pršut and panceta and regional products like olives are common. Albanian-style meze platters typically include prosciutto ham, salami, and brined cheese, accompanied with roasted bell peppers (capsicum) or green olives marinated in olive oil with garlic. In Bulgaria, popular mezes are lukanka (a spicy sausage), soujouk (a dry and spicy sausage) and sirene (a white brine cheese). The Bulgarian-made shopska salad is also a very popular meze. It is made with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, peppers, and sirene. Ajvar and pindjur are popular mezes in North Macedonia. In Romania, mezelic means a quick appetizer and includes zacuscă, cheeses, and salamis, often accompanied by tuică.