Travel books are literary works in which travelers give various information about the places they have seen. Providing reference to areas like history, geography and literature, travel books are of vital importance for gastronomic studies as well. Travelers visiting the same or different geographies during different centuries mentioned in their travel books the flavors they had tasted, incidents they had witnessed concerning food and situations they had found interesting in a positive or negative way. In their travel books, they also mentioned cooking styles, methods of cooking and making food, materials used in storage and service, food-related professions and places to eat. Some travelers gave place to ordinary foods, cooking technics and table habits by comparing with their own culture. Such gastronomic elements mentioned in travel books also reflect the food and cuisine concept of the period and geography in which the travel book was written. Examples to travel books that include gastronomic elements are İbn Fadlan’s er-Risâle, İbn Battûta’s er-Rıhle, el-Gırnâtî’s Tuhfetu’l Elbâb and Nuhbetu’l Acâb, Bedreddin el-Gazzî’s el-Metali’u’l-Bedriyye fi’l-Menâzili’r-Rûmiyye, Ahmed Fâris eş-Şidyâk’s el-Vâsıta ilâ Ahvâli Malta, Kutbeddin el-Mekkî’s el-Fevâ’idu’s-Seniyye fi’r-Rihleti’l-Medeniyye, İbrahim el-Hıyârî’s Tuhfetu’l-Udebâ’ and Selvetu’l-Gurabâ’, el-Ayyâşî’s er-Rihletu’l-Ayyâşiyye and Abdulganî en-Nâblusî’s el-Hakîka ve’l-Mecâz fî Rihle Bilâdi’ş-Şâm and Mısr ve’l-Hicâz. The aforementioned travelers mentioned in their travel books the food culture of the places they had visited, fruits and vegetables growing there, traditional flavors of the city or the region, as well as eating styles and customs. In addition, they gave place to interesting situations about eating and foods. In this study, gastronomic elements mentioned in the travels books of the aforementioned travelers were discussed. Accordingly, the study evaluated what kind of foods were consumed during the century and in the geography where the travelers had traveled to, as well as the preparation and storage technics of these foods, and the nutrients and customs the travelers had found odd.

Gastronomy, travel book, traveler, food culture.