ISTANBUL FOOD TOUR: From Pide to Locum, Guest Post by Kathryn Mohrman

 52 Places to Go: Week 44

Pide, a pizza-like bread made in Istanbul

My friend, Kathryn Mohrman, an avid and excellent photographer, visited Turkey in 2014 when she was on her way to Ethiopia.  She has graciously agreed to share some of her photos and impressions of her visit to Turkey. Kathryn, now retired, was a professor at Arizona State University and traveled widely for her job as director of several projects with partner universities in China and Vietnam. You can see photos from her trip to Lalibela, Ethiopia, at her 2/17/14 post on this blog.  I have known Kathryn since we were students together at Grinnell College in Iowa. Here is her report of part of her trip to Istanbul.

Around Christmas and New Year's, 2013, I traveled to Istanbul to see the only city in the world that straddles two continents. What a fascinating place!

Breakfast with Turkish breads and other Turkish foods

One day I took a food tour with a company called Istanbul Eats.  We first had breakfast with breads, cheese and other goodies purchased at local shops by our guide (a Belgian married to a Turkish woman who had lived in Istanbul for decades--the man in the center of the photo).

Hot tea

The traditional way to serve tea and coffee is in glasses.

Baklava

We tried baklava at one of the oldest and best specialty shops in town
And we ate pide, a cross between pizza and calzone.

Pide makers--the oven is much like a pizza oven.
The results--delicious pide!

Then on to a candy shop where we sampled Turkish delight (locum).  It is really yummy when it's fresh.

Turkish Delight--in many flavors!

We also sampled a nearly extinct traditional winter drink, boza.

Boza shop

Boza

Boza is made from fermented grain, and is served with roasted hazelnuts.

Plate full of selections from dishes served at our final feast.

Late in the afternoon we ended the foodie tour with a feast at an outdoor restaurant. Fat and happy, I staggered back to my hotel.  I never would have found all of these traditional foods on my own, many in out-of-the-way places.

Note from The Intrepid Tourist:  For more about eating in Istanbul, check out my post on August 6, 2012, Istanbul: A Food Lover's Delight.

This article was first published 6/23/14