2019 Eurasia Adventure - Istanbul Food Tour

As I mentioned in my brief overview yesterday, we did another food plus tour with Culinary Backstreets on Friday our first full day in Istanbul. I call it a food plus tour because our guide, Benoit, spent way more time discussing history and architecture and the nature of how the trades in the markets worked than he did on the food. That is not saying that the food was neglected. It was presented both with great variety and with great explanation.

We started at the old train station where the Orient Express would finish its run

And went to an old tea room where our guide had brought a full spread of foods that would be typical of a Turkish breakfast  - cheeses, olives, savory spreads and a variety of sweet spreads like honey, fruit syrups and honey. The bread is simit which is like a bagel covered with sesame seeds

We visited a small market the emphasized artisanal producers

We snacked on gosleme which is very much like the qutab we had in Azerbaijan - a thin pancake filled with in this case greens

Then we started to walk toward the market or bazaar distrcit

This was the area of old where the vast majority of the commerce of the city took place 

It is still and important area of commercial activity

We learned there were actually many, many separate markets - called Han - and they specialized. They could be the places for fabrics or certain types of pottery or types of metal work or clothing and on and on

A local shoe shine man 

 Women who are among the many new immigrants (Syrian, Afgani) that have poured into Turkey

At the turn of the 19th to 20th century the buildings within which Han were located were often built by wealthy men. Both their names and/or the names of the architects who designed them were on the buildings. Many of the Han date back centuries and the buildings have been repurposed

Food people and food

The preparation of an older style of kebab (which just means 'roasted')

They cut off meat, put it on small skewers and then grill it again

This guy was a showman

He prepared a food I don't remember the name of

It was bulgur wheat, soften in hot water and mashed/mixed with various flavorings

Spicy, it was served by him with panache on a lettuce leaf and then, as you held it in your hand, he squeezed a massive amount of lemon juice over it

Borek

Made in various forms all over the area of the former Ottoman Empire, the versions we found here are particularly light. The dough is not really like phyllo. It is more like a pasta dough. They are filled with cheese or meat. But one version - my favorite - the dough is boiled briefly before it is then baked. For you Easter European Jewish of extraction if you remember noodle kugel, it is very much like that

Seller of cured lemons

Lentil soup - popular for breakfast - like our fourth breakfast of this tour!!!!

The trade of 'porters' is honored in the market

They have their own union (guild?) and are hired out for jobs throughout the day

Another statue honoring the fabric trade

Going deeper into the area now called the Grand Bazaar

Tea Service

All through the area there are small tea shops and they deliver tea on small trays to those working

If your tea shop is on the second floor, you have someone on the first floor taking orders and have an efficient delivery system

Making Pide

The word Pide is used for a bread like pita bread used for sandwiches 

But it is also a whole class of dough baked with a filling

Have had many times on our trips to Turkey but these folks without a doubt made the best I've had

Fillings

Dough

Process

Results

On top of the bazaar

Our guide took us up and down all through not just the streets and alleys but even to the basements and roofs of the market where we could see the city unfold

There are no shortage of mosques in Istanbul!

A Tower dating from the Byzantine period circa the 8th to 9th century

 

Fellow food tour members

Looking across the Golden Horn to the Galata Tower just beneath was where we were staying

And across the Bosporus to Asia

 Visiting the silver and goldsmith's Han and watching the craftsmanship

We make our way to the oldest part of the bazaar that dates to the 16th century

The smallest shop in the Grand Bazaar where a watch repairman plies his trade

And one last food tasting

Kebab on skewers 

There is something special about how Turkish people work with fire to grill food