The Food of Turkey

For the past month we have been in the land of vegetarians. Most Indians are vegetarians and any meat dishes we did have were usually pretty small. So when we arrived in Turkey, the land of doner and kebaps, we went a bit crazy! We had meat, meat and more meat for almost every lunch and dinner.

Lamb doner.

Beef and lamb kebaps.

Lamb stew with tomatoes, peppers, garlic and parsley.

Roasted lamb shank. 

Lamb kebap (blurry photo) but accoutrement of roasted peppers, pickles, parsley and hot peppers.

Lamb pide (like a pizza).

Lamb kebap plate.

Even though the meat was amazing, I have to admit that my favourite meal was breakfast. Turkish breakfasts are simple and fresh. They always include tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, bread and cheese. Sometimes you'll see little phyllo pastries filled with cheese, or yoghurt, fruit and jams.

Being on the ocean there was also a lot of fish. Unfortunately it was still hard to find inexpensive restaurants so we didn't have as much as we hoped. The fish we did have though was delicious!

The one cheap fish sandwich ($4) comes with a side of pickles in turnip juice.

Fish

Octopus salad.

And with almost every meal, you get a wide selection of amazing mezes and pickled chili peppers.

Oh my God. The desserts. One of the Principles at my company is from Turkey; he and his wife compiled a list of "must eats" for us. Tom made it his mission to try them all! We made it through 90% of the list and had so many types of baklava within the first week that we got sugared out. It is so hard to control yourself when every other shop has windows filled with treats!

Every shop window had a stack of this type of baklava.

A dessert from the Ottoman era made of chicken, milk, sugar and mastic. And yes, I said chicken!

Baklava.

Lokma: Little mini donughts soaked in syrup.

Kunefe: A pastry stuffed with cheese and fried. One of my favourites!

Sugar cookie stuffed with apple pie filling and topped with pistachios and almonds.

Peynir helveti: cake with cheese and topped with mastic ice cream.

Chewy meringue.

Just as in most of Asia, Turks drink a lot of tea. But there are a few other popular drinks as well.

Cay (said Chai) is the traditional tea always served in this style of cup

Turkish coffee; a thick, grainy and strong drink. Tip: don't drink the grinds at the bottom of the cup!

Turkish wine and beer. The beer brand is called Efes.

Salep; contains flour made from the tubers of orchids, milk, sugar and topped with cinnamon (tasted a bit like oatmeal water!) 

Freshly pressed pomegranate juice!

Ayran: yoghurt drink

Raki; a anise seed based alcohol similar to Greek ouzo.

The food was delicious!!! Now I wonder how the Vancouver Doner Dude stacks up...