Istanbul Eats
Istanbul Eats
A delicious city of layers—figuratively and literally
Istanbul habibi. One of my favorite cities in the world. A city of layers, history, culture…and incredibly transcendent food.
In the West, many people have accessed Turkish food via some iteration of a doner kebab, the quintessential hangover food. Layered meat shaved off a stick, dripping with fat and wrapped in bread, it’s a salty, greasy, fatty handful of luscious nutritional outrage. But, it doesn’t begin to scratch the patina of Turkish cuisine.
In Istanbul, you have, quite literally, millennia of culinary patrimony to draw on. There is a very cool restaurant that recreates recipes served to the efendi, khan and sultans during the Byzantine Empire. Thanks to the meticulous record keeping of the Empire, many recipes survive from the imperial kitchens and live on to perfume the streets with scents of saffron and garlic, baking phyllo dough studded with pistachios and smothered in honey.
On the other end of the food-fanciness is the unbeatable street food, whose aromas meld with the sea air (and occasionally the wafts of hot, stinky trash) to create the scent of the city. Carts, stalls, and hole in the wall storefronts abound, keeping the city fed in no small style. I took these photos on the wharf, having just stepped off one the water taxis that navigate the Bosphorus ferrying passengers between the three sections of the city.
I am a shy street photographer. It makes me very uncomfortable to invade people’s privacy by taking a random, candid shot. So rather than deliberately pointing and shooting, I shot from the hip.
Clicking as I walked, I passed through the dock area which is lined with food carts and people stopping for snacks. Fresh baked, crunchy sesame donuts called simit are sometimes stacked on a spool, and other times heaped in a glass fronted cart. The perennial street-food-favorite grilled corn (see the Mexico blog for more corny chat) is also available, along with baked potatoes that can be stuffed with any number of toppings. Roast chestnuts help ward off the winter chill and make for a great snack to keep you fueled during wanders.
So come on. Do as the locals do. Hop off a water taxi and grab a snack to help fuel the dive into a city of wonder*.
The Galata tower dominates the skyline.
* Istanbul has a huge amount to offer to the causal tourist. Politically, Turkey it is immensely complex and was the site of an attempted coup attempt in 2016 and subsequent crackdown. There have been terrorist incidents, most notably at a nightclub on New Year’s Eve 2017, which has helped galvanize a very strong security presence. Dissent is not appreciated, and there is tremendous repression and discrimination of minorities (primarily Kurds and Syrian) and the press. Do a Google before you go to get the bigger picture. Also check visa requirements—at the moment Americans and Europeans can apply online for a visa.