Istanbul. It's a destination seething with history, boatloads of attractions and people who live, breathe and eat wonderful food. As soon as we landed, I set my sights on how to fill my belly with the good stuff.
I’ve had more than a few perks that stem from Charlie spending years in the travel biz. One of my favourite to date is getting hooked up with Istanbul’s most renowned food experts—Culinary Backstreets. To put it bluntly, I would have died trying to replicate their Istanbul Eats tour on my own. Sure, I’m fairly adept at sourcing the 'real eats' if I’m given enough time, but Istanbul is a scale and density I couldn’t crack solo mission.
Culinary Backstreets--the company and brainchild of Ansel Mullens and Yigal Schleifer is the product of years of research, study and exploration. Ansel and his partner Yigal truly know food and culture with a side order of personality. They forage for the genuine characters behind the food and deliver a once in a lifetime peek inside a well crafted cuisine.
Our Belgian tour guide Benoit was a charismatic and Über knowledgeable man who had made Istanbul his home for over 30 years. His appetite for authentic food and the hustle and bustle of Turkish life made him the perfect member of the Culinary Backstreets crew. Luckily for us, he had agreed to test out a new tour of Sultanahmet (the old city) on our willing family. Glad to be the guinea pigs, we ate in back street cafes, street stall, rooftops and train stations until we were breathless and stuffed silly. This is the kind of food experience I live for. It felt authentic, spontaneous and perfectly timed. I only wish I had more room in my tummy for more.
If you come to Istanbul this food tour is a no-brainer. Book ahead! A few words of advice: plan the smorgasbord at start of your trip and bring both empty stomach and a pad and paper. You'll want to write down what you like and what you want to avoid cause you'll be seeing the fare pop up during the rest of your travels in Turkey.
Charlie ate the lions share of what you see below. His stomach size astounds me (methinks it has nothing to do with size but sheer determination!).
Our day started with a typical, enormous Turkish breakfast. They start the day right with heaps of cheeses, veggies, chilis (?), cured meats, olives, tomatoes, pekmez (pomegranete molasses + tahini), breads, dried fruit and gallons of sweet Turkish tea. My top pick was the gooey looking thing in the middle -- buffalo clotted cream with fresh honey.
The Turkish simit stand. I'm pretty sure these suckers could take on any Montreal bagel.
Midye Dolma - expertly stuffed mussels with seasoned rice, doused in lemon juice. This was ingenious. Sophia ripped one open to find the blackish rice pretty unappealing. She tried it nevertheless. That's my girl.
Both kinds of borek - beef and cheese. These were pretty wilted versions as I think Benoit had asked the vendor to save them for us all morning. Nevertheless the light pastry and fillings were gobbled by our gang.
A typical Turkish spiced and grilled meat sandwich. Sophia opted out of the extra hot pepper and rolled her parcel just so.
Many Turkish foods contain one or all of these spices: chili powder, dried sumac, cumin, sweet paprika, fresh chilis, onions.
Right after the vendor did his jig he offered up these handfuls. Cig kofte - eastern turkey snack of bulgar with coriander seeds, parsley , red pepper paste, pomegranate molasses, roasted chili, onions, garlic served with crunchy lettuce and lemon. It's traditionally made with raw meat, kind of like a tartare. We loved this veggie version.
Yippeee! It's citrus season in Turkey. A quick pit stop for a grapefruit and orange melange in between bites.
Shoveling the delicate boat shaped pide pizzas into the searing hot oven takes talent.
Turkish pide pizza is not the typical tomato sauced disc with mozzerella that we know and love. This boat shaped pizza is often covered in ground, spiced meat or layers of stringy cheese that melt in your mouth. I'm not sure which I prefer. I guess it depends on who's making the pie?
Benoit guided us to a perfect perch to much on our pide pizzas.
One hellava humus.
Kokoreç or Kokoretsi is a dish of the Balkans and Anatolia consisting mainly of lamb or goat intestines, often wrapping seasoned offal, including sweetbreads, hearts, lungs or kidneys. The intestines of suckling lambs are preferred. This wasn't my favourite. The gamey taste overwhelmed my mouth that still tasted of delicious pide.
Our turkish delight fanatic. Luckily for Alfie the markets salesmen get their kicks handing out free cubes of delight to kids
For some reason the street vendors kept giving our kids rubber hand gloves? Turns out it's the toy of champions.
Sweet vermicelli (read: soaked to the brim with sugar and baked till a crust forms) pudding with buffalo clotted cream. Sophia and Charlie fought each other for each bite.
Head and Tail soup. You guessed it. They put every part of the lamb in this soup, add milk and a chili oil to top it off. It was surprisingly delicate and right up my dad's alley.
Apart from his Istanbul Eats gig, Benoit also treks to distant parts of Turkey in search of herbs and foraged plants. He shared some of his delectable, palate cleansing wild oregano tea. It was an ideal break for making room for more mouthfuls of food.
Lamb liver seasoned to an inch of it's previous life. Charlie voted this his best bite. I had thrown in the towel at this point.
Ayran is the national drink of Turkey. They drink this salty, yogurt drink all day, with every meal. It's considered a cure all for every age and stage. I loved it. The kids hated it.
Too much! I can't eat another bite.
If you can't manage the food tour, buy the Istanbul Eats book and take yourself to as many of their top pics as possible. You won't regret it.