Istanbul Spice Market, once the largest spice trading venue of the medieval world, with its abundant stalls still featuring piles of edible exotics is a definite highlight for anyone exploring Istanbul and a favorite stop during my Istanbul food tour. As with all the touristic highlights you need to be prepared to fetch some fantastic finds and not to fall for any of the catches.
March 2011
If there is a traditional Turkish food item that leaves neither room for polarized opinions nor doubt about having the second helping it is definitely sigara böreği, cigar-shaped pastry of paper-thin dough (yufka) stuffed with cheese. It has also been a hit on my cooking classes always resulting in the discussion on how to organize yufka export to the sigara böreği craving foodies outside of Turkey.
Every time I am reading mouthwatering accounts of Istanbul food I sign: often times the authors tend to be rather insensitive to the cravings of those who for health issues or out of their own choice stick to a particular diet - gluten free, low-carb, vegetarian, vegan, raw eating - you name it. Unless you are one of them it has probably never occurred to you that giving up particular food does not make you less of a foodie. And when you travel around you want to explore local flavors as much as your all-eating companions. In order to give a lead to the traveling foodies with dietary restrictions or food allergies I am starting a series of articles with tips on how to savor Istanbul to their own taste. This article is about gluten-free Istanbul.
