The History of Turkish cuisine is the result of the region’s seasonal products and a nomadic diet, combined with a variety of influences from the surrounding regions.The history of modern Turkey began with the arrival of migrants from Central Asia’s Altay Mountains in Anatolia, otherwise known as Asia Minor. These people, the ancestors of  the modern Turks, were nomads that depended upon agriculture and the breeding of domestic animals. Their diet was based largely on mutton, goat meat, and beef, and they would prepare their meat in a tandir, an underground oven, or over an open wood or charcoal fire as kebabs. Most of Turkish food is prepared on top of the stove; the oven is hardly used. One of Turkish cuisine’s traditional staple dishes is kavurma, small cubes of meat cooked in its own fat, salted, and then stored in large earthenware containers, until it is eaten in the winter months. Another traditional delicacy, pastirma, is a preserved meat that is salted, spiced, and dried in the sun. Both of these specialties have survived the onslaught of many centuries, remaining popular dishes still today.