Corn Allergy Travel in Turkey

Last Updated on April 30, 2019

Corn/maize (mısır) is not a common substance in Turkish restaurant dishes.

The most common edible oils in Turkish cuisine are olive oiland sunflower oil, the most common sweetener is beet sugar.

Corn/maize itself is mostly looked upon as a street food:corn on the cob boiled or grilled as a snack.

However, I have not questioned Turkish chefs yet on this matter, so if you are allergic to corn/maize, you should learn the words below so you can ask waiters and chefs if a certain food contains corn/maize or not:

corn/maize = mısır (MUH-suhr)

Is there corn in it? = İçinde mısır var mı? (EECH-een-DEH MUH-suhr VAHR muh)

Yes = evet (eh-VEHT)

No = hayır/yok (‘higher,’ YOHK)

I’m allergic to corn/maize = Mısır alerjim var (MUH-suhr ah-lehr-ZHEEM vahr)

As for processed foods (snacks, candy), it may be that they contain such things as high fructose corn syrup (as virtually every processed food in the USA does). It seems almost impossible to get away from that stuff.

Most processed food packages in Turkey contain lists of ingredients, often in several languages, but you may want to have a Turkish speaker help to interpret the ingredients list.

The most telling word is mısır (the same word in Turkish as for ‘Egypt,’ the grain/breadbasket of the Roman and Ottoman empires.)


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