ABSTRACT
Macgill's narration depicting the feast given to the British envoy, Lord Elgin, at Topkapi Palace during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Selim III, represents one example among numerous travelers' accounts that relate to the same subject. Feasting was a key element of Ottoman palace ceremonies for receiving foreign envoys. Travelers' accounts from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries depicting the reception of foreign envoys in the Ottoman palace demonstrate that offering food to those who visited the sultan at his palace was a constant and permanent part of the court ceremonies. Food continued to be an important part of ceremonies at the Ottoman palace with regard to receiving foreign guests from the nineteenth century until the last days of the empire in the 1920s. Interestingly, from the end of the reign of the Sultan Mahmut II, a number of changes inspired by European culture can be seen during official banquets prepared for foreign guests.
