Meze is a selection of food served as the appetizer course with or without drinks or sometimes as the main course.

Frequently eaten Turkish mezes include; olives, mature kasar (kashar) cheese, white cheese (feta), various mixed pickles tursu, cacik (tzatziki), fried köfte (meatballs), fasulye pilaki (bean cooked with garlic, tomato paste, carrot and olive oil), dolma (vine leaves, cabbage leaves, peppers, courgette, pumpkin or eggplant stuffed with rice and/or meat.

Dried fruits and a range of spices are usually added to the mixture.

Arnavut cigeri (meaning Albanian liver), Çerkez tavugu (meaning Circassian chicken), all kinds of börek (very thin phyllo dough staffed with cheese, meat or vegetables), humus (a word coming from Arabic and prepared from sesame, chickpea, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice), haydari, saksuka, patlican salatasi (eggplant salad), acili ezme (hot spicy freshly mashed tomatoes with onion and green herbs), içli köfte (can be classified either a meze or a main dish.

Especially in the eastern Turkey, when it is cooked through boiling, içli köfte is served as main dish), çig köfte (hot raw meatballs with bulgur).

Gözleme is a food typical in rural areas, made of lavash bread or phyllo dough folded around a variety of fillings -- spinach, cheese, meat, potatoes -- and cooked on a large griddle (traditionally saç).

In the coastal towns of Turkey, seafood mezes accompany fish dishes; Kalamar, Ahtapot (octopus salad), deniz börülcesi or midye dolma (mussels stuffed with rice).