Thursday, February 07, 2008

Food for the Body







Art and culture of Turkey may be food for the soul, but never let it be said that Turkey neglects food for the body. In most hotels/pensions, you can get a Turkish breakfast consisting of a boiled egg, yoghurt, cheeses, sausage, cucumber and tomato slices, olives, bread, jams, juice and either tea or coffee. One such breakfast is illustrated as served in our hotel in Goreme. This is a substantial meal and holds you nicely while you go out exploring.


As the day wears on, you can snack to your heart's content. Typical snacks include simits, bagel shaped rather dry, bread rings coated in seeds of various types. Depending on where you go they are sol doff trays or, occasionally off a pole carried around by a vendor.


We also came across a young lady enjoying a snack of a roasted corn cob in the park area between the Sultanahmet Camii/Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya.


Around Istanbul you find the bright red carts sporting red and white striped canopies, selling hot roasted chestnuts, They also seem to be a gathering place for men who engaged in chat.


If you get more hungry, down by the commuter ferry docks near the train station in the Sultanahmet district, you can grab a Balik Salat with a Fanta for the price of a burger at home. The Balik is “fish”, in this case a mackerel fried on a slanted hot sheet to drain off the oils, which the vendor strips of the bones as both fillets are placed on a fresh bun and topped with shredded lettuce (salat) and a suace. We found these delicious.


Restaurants are everywhere. Meals can be a simple or elegant as you like. Prices vary accordingly.


Regardless of what you do and where you go, you will find the food, excellent, varied and affordable.

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