I will not hide it - I am jealous. Very very jealous to Robyn and David traveling around Black Sea region of Turkey, eating all the way and - Robyn through her writing and David through his photograpy - making us the rest of us want to get on a plan, train, boat or bus to get us to the same table they are feasting at. What’s the deal with the Black Sea, you ask.
The very first one I saw - a tall and voluminous shopping bag mounted on a frame with a handle and two wheels - appeared a manifestation of my new lifestyle I was going to embrace in Istanbul: shopping from the best food market in town and then walking back to my neighborhood as I am pulling my shopping trolley on the paved sidewalks. Or maybe getting on a tram - called “nostalgic” which it may be for most but not the passengers taking it every day to Kadikoy for shopping and such and then back to their neighborhood with the paved sidewalks.
You know my excitement about Kadıköy market which I regard as the best food market of Istanbul. But here is the news - there is another thrilling place to shop in the area with the limited window of opportunity. That window being Tuesday. Not sure what took me so long to visit the Kadikoy Tuesday Market (Kadıköy Salı Pazarı), a gigantic open-air marketplace dragging the housewives of the broader Kadıköy area for food and clothes shopping. My sally a few weeks ago was nothing like I have experienced before in Istanbul.
I do that more often that I wish I had to. I sort of hate to ruin excitement of the first time Istanbul visitors they get into at the sight of the sizable boxes with a label ‘Turkish saffron” and equally impossible price tag ’5 Turkish lira’. I dislike politely explaining that technically there is no such thing as the Ottoman spice mix. And I know I will be forever cursed for revealing the secret of the apple tea which really is .. just an instant powder. But at the end of the day this is why people join my Istanbul food tours: they do want to go beyond the tourist scams which means that at times I have to - rather cruelly - dethrone some of the myths created by the smooth-taking Istanbul spice sellers.
Maraş, Urfa, Antep - these are the names you can find on the price tags of the piles of bright red pepper flakes at the spice stalls of Eminönü, bustling Istanbul food market. All three are somewhat known culinary destinations in Turkey. Maraş for its thick ice-cream made with salep, powered root of wild orchid, Urfa for its spicy kebabs, Antep for its knowledgeably grown pistachio and skillfully made baklava.
However it is Aleppo, a small village at the border with Syria which has received international fame for its peppers. It came as an absolute revelation to me that Aleppo pepper has become the next big thing in the US culinary world. Is Aleppo pepper really that hot?
When I just came to Istanbul I was obsessed with getting the highest quality food the money could buy. Istanbul food markets are the horns of plenty with most pungent cheesed, the plumpest olives and the most succulent tomatoes. Moscovite habits die hard! In time I have discovered that good Istanbul home cooks know better and have a few tricks under their belt to get down their cost without going as much down on the quality.
Winter has arrived to Istanbul unannounced. It has been in an agony of suspense the whole summer so it decided to deprive us of any autumn. From late summer we have transited into early winter. Fashionable wellingtons, practical Timberland boots, cozy berets and warm winter jackets - kept at the storage or thoughtfully bought a week ago - have flooded Istanbul streets. As if the streets were not already flooded by the tons of rainfall which poured on Istanbul all at once.
