[Mehmet Hascan]

Turkish cuisine, on the other hand, is renowned world-wide for its extreme diversity and excellent quality. It was said of Turkish food "Don’t undermine the dish by calling it simply food. Each blessed dish is a whole civilisation in itself". When Turks sit down to eat they say "Afiyet olsun" to their companions to express "bon apetit!" both before and after a meal. When someone wishes to compliment the cook, they say "Elinize saglik" which quite literally means "May God bless your hands", and "Serefe!" is "Cheers!".

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