From borek to balik ekmek...a guide to Turkish cuisine

Last post described what I've been up to; now I think it's time to describe what I've been eating. So:

Breakfast is a massive buffet provided by our hotel. They have your typical eggs, sausage, toast, cereal, pastries and yogurt, but also olives, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, and börek (a flaky pastry with layers of cheese inside). Another food in Istanbul a lot of people eat for breakfast (but not part of our hotel breakfast buffet) are simit, round bagel-like rings of bread covered in sesame seeds. They are sold by street vendors everywhere in the city and are eaten throughout the day as a snack. I've just about gone through every combination of food from the hotel buffet and am starting to get tired of it, so if i can find a simit vendor around the hotel that might be my new favorite breakfast.

Lunch--we generally have two hours or so for lunch during the week, so that gives us time to explore a bit and try different places every day. There are tons of restaraunts around our hotel, but they're a bit more touristy and sit-down slow than we'd like (plus we fell into that trap the first week and realized that none of the restaraunts were that good). Instead, there are corner shops everywhere that have döner kebaps...basically massive hunks of lamb (kuzu) or chicken (tavuk) on a horizontal rotating spit that they carve meat off as you order (much like shawerma in some Mediterranean restaraunts at home). This goes on either pita, a roll, or a flat tortilla like bread (dürüm). Basically, I haven't figured out how to specify which type of bread I want in Turkish yet, so I take what they hand me, and it's all been good, though I think my favorite is the dürüm. Maybe that's just because i'm starting to miss burritos and that's as close as I can get--not sure. Actually the pita is interesting because they put french fries in it, which sounds gross at first, but its actually good.

Pide and börek are other lunch foods that are good alternatives to the meat-heavy döner kebaps. They are generally sold at the same bakery-like stores, so sometimes its hard to choose between the two! Pide are like football-shaped pizza with the edges folded up, and they come with all different types of toppings, like cheese (the most common/popular/delicious), meat, egg, and peppers. I already mentioned börek from what they serve at breakfast, but the stuff in the legit börek stores is muuuchhh better and there is more variety. I also like lahmacun, (pronounced lah-mah-jun) which are pieces of dürüm spread with a mixture of tomato, meat and spices, then topped with shredded lettuce and rolled. It's similar to things I've had at home from Trader Joe's, which is probably why I am one of the only people in the group that likes it. Everything lunch-wise is pretty cheap, and I generally don't pay more than 5 lira (about $3) for my whole meal.

Dinner--Just like for lunch, there are many different options for dinner, ranging from nice sit-down places to street vendors to döner places. We generally don't go to nice sit-down places, but we have had some group dinners so we've experienced the full Turkish meal. It generally starts with mezes, or cold appetizers. These are generally different dips and spreads that vary from restaurant to restaurant. I don't know any of the names of the dishes (working on it...) but there's always a salsa-like dip with parsley, tomato, and green onion, and a cucumber, tomato, olive oil salad. They serve these with pita. Some places we've been have served a bean salad type thing that is also really good--working on the name of that too. Some places also serve lentil soup (mercimek çorbası, pronounced mare-ji-mek chor-bassi). The main course is generally some type of meat, often pices of meat that have been cooked on a kebab served with rice and bread. They also serve ayran, drink made with plain, watery yogurt and a pinch of salt. It is supposed to be really refreshing and delicious, but I haven't quite gotten used to it yet. Of the traditional Turkish drinks, I prefer the Turkish tea. It is served after every meal, and often places don't charge for it. The first time I had it, I thought I'd drink it like the locals and not put sugar in it, until I took a sip and it was so strong I though I was drinking coffee. Literally. It was like espresso, and putting sugar in it hardly put a dent in how strong it was. A good 4 sugar cubes later, it was drinkable, and I felt like less of a baby after I saw the waiter drinking Turkish tea in the kitchen and adding 5 sugar cubes. They also serve apple tea (elma çay...pronounced like chai) which is like apple cider and not as authenic as legit Turkish tea, but still good.

Dessert--I've figured out that there are three types of dessert in Turkey: those sold in specialty stores (baclava/Turkish delight), those sold in bakeries, and ice cream).

Baclava is everywhere in Istanbul. For some reason though, I'm not the hugest fan of baclava--sad for me but lucky for my waistline, I guess. Turkish delight (lokum) is another dessert I'm trying to give a second chance to. It ranges from sticky squares of chewy, sugary, firm-ish gelatin-like stuff rolled in shredded coconut/powdered sugar (not the best description, I know, but see the picture) to fluffy marshmallow-like sheets with various flavors rolled in, almost like a jelly-roll (again, see the picture...). I guess it tastes okay, but it isn't exactly the most amazing dessert I have ever had. For that, I turn to the stuff they sell in bakeries and specialty dessert stores: rice pudding (sütlaç), semolina helva (irmek helvası) and supangle (super intense chocolate pudding).


The rice pudding here is like tiramisu in Italy--different at every restaraunt, and I like trying all the different variations. Semolina helva is like a cross between a cake and a cookie, and really sweet. It is served with honey on top, which makes it even sweeter, so if I order it, I generally share with a friend. Pistachios are huge in Turkey, so basically every dessert is covered with some form of pistachio. There are plenty of pistachio desserts too, but they're not my favorite.

I should also mention the ice cream (dondurma) as it is on every corner and thanks to the intense heat I have had to cave in and buy ice cream a few times now (a terrible predicament to be in, I know). Ice cream sellers are everywhere, and they give quite a show. They stand behind rolling freezers with mountains of ice cream cones on either side of them, and some type of bell above the stand. Whenever they see potential customers coming, they grab a long metal pole, stir the ice cream around, then they lift the entire frozen hunk of ice cream out of the freezer (I guess to show off the consistency, because the entire hunk ice cream just stays there). Their other trick is to stick an empty cone on the end of the pole and shove it in your face as you walk by, lifting it at the last second and hitting the bells above them. It definitely gets annoying after about the 10th ice cream cone shoved in your face. I'm not a huge fan of this street ice cream, but there are a couple places that only sell ice cream, and theirs is gooooddddddd. After analyzing it though, I've come to the conclusion that it is less ice creamy and more frozen yogurty, because it has a slight yogurt tang. Still, definitely delicious.

Street food--Okay, I know this sounds sketchy. And I know that the descriptions posted here will cause readers to cringe as they question the health standards of Turkish street vendors. I definitely did too. But fear not, dear reader. I waited a whole week and a half to try this stuff, and watched as other people in my group bought it and raved about how good it was, and they didn't get sick. So I caved. The first thing I tried was roasted corn, which was not so delicious. The second thing, however, was amazing. We were walking along the Bosphorus and found a stand that sold grilled fish sandwiches. It was literally in front of the boat that the fish had been caught on, and they kept hauling the fish from the boat to the stand. There was a massive crowd, and people were buying 4 or 5 sandwiches at a time, so I figured it was good if the locals liked it. And it was maybe one of the best meals I've had on this trip. From now on, whenever I see signs for balik ekmek (fish on bread), I am there. They also sell mussels, but I'm still a little wary of those. There are also a doughnut-like fried rings of dough that ooze honey when you bite into them...I'm not generally a honey fan, but for these I make an exception. They are really sweet though, so I always share them with people. Probably the most impressive of the street vendors are the fruit sellers. They have massive wooden carts that they move around the city loaded up with huge super-red fresh cherries, giant peaches, and apricots. They smell so good...I can often tell when a guy is coming because I can smell the fruit before I can see the vendor. I haven't bought anything from these guys yet; my Turkish isn't good enough, and in Turkey, it is weird to just buy one or two of something...they just give it to you as a friendship gesture. We figured this out when my friends tried to buy just one peach, and the vendor just gave it to them and refused to take any money. They felt bad because it looked like he needed the money, but he waved them on with a friendly laugh after all their thank-yous. These guys sell by the kilo, and I'm not sure I can get a half-kilo. Even sharing with people, I'm not sure I can handle 2.2 lbs of fruit before it all goes bad, though its only like 4 lira for a kilo, so it may be worth it...I plan on investigating futher.

And finally, there's good ole McDonalds. We went on the 4th of July and got burgers and shakes, and it is open late, so we go there on late-night study breaks. I always like going to McDonalds in foreign countries to see how the menu is different, and in Turkey, it definitely is. Probably the most amazing thing (and something I thought the US would have for all of its super-sizedness) is the Mega Mac, a Big Mac with four patties. For dessert, they have chocolate doughnuts, as well as those apple pie things served with ice cream. My favorite Turkish McDonalds menu item, however, has to be the McTurco. It's not necessarily the most delicious thing ever, but McDonalds certainly wins points for creativity at fast-fooditizing the traditional doner kebab. It comes in its own special cardboard package, complete with a tear-off tab that separates the top of the container from the bottom so you don't get your fingers dirty (see picture below). Serious time went into the development of this thing, yet I'm not sure who in their right mind (well, besides me, the crazy McDonalds-starved American tourist) would order it. I mean, it has barbecue sauce on it!! (which I loved by the way, but only because I have literally been having dreams about barbecued ribs, and this was as close as I could get) I'm not sure anyone in Turkey has ever had barbecue sauce or knows what it even is. I was definitely the only person to order the McTurco, and it took like 10 minutes for them to make it, probably because they haven't sold one in months. All in all, it was good, though I probably wouldn't order it again.



Oh man, describing all this has mad me hungry! I'd better go get lunch....borek sounds pretty darn good right now. See you later!