[SAMPLE] A Short Guide to Meze

Meze is not an appetizer. It is not a starter you clear away before the real food arrives. Meze is the meal — a slow parade of small plates that keeps the table interesting for hours.

The rules are few. Everything is shared. Nothing is rushed. The plates come when they are ready, and the table makes room for each one.

Begin with the cold plates: smoked eggplant, haydari, fava. Then the warm ones. Somewhere along the way, someone pours the rakı, and the evening properly begins.