Exploring History Through Turkish Street Food
I love food. I mean, I REALLY love food. The past 4 months of international travels have allowed me to stretch myself and try some truly different, and unique foods from around the world.
Some have been incredible, some, well… Eh, not so much. Our recent trip to Istanbul is a gastronomy paradise. Learning about the world of Turkish food is a history lesson in itself. The diversity of food has influence dating back to the Roman and Ottoman Empires and the history behind each dish often has a titillating story tied to some Sultan royal family.
Let’s take the internationally recognized Turkish Coffee, for example. One story suggests that an Ottoman ruler from Yemen gifted this Yemeni coffee to Suleiman the Magnificant. He was so pleased he made a royal decision to adopt this as the drink of Turkey. Not sure if this is accurate, but sounds noble to me?
Sadly for the Turkish, with the Lira at an all-time low, our decision to explore Turkish street food in Istanbul was inexpensive and opportunistic for foodies like us.
First, a little history. Street Food, a custom of cooking food on the streets, dates back tens of thousands of years. Originally designed as a practical way to feed the poor, today, in these times of globalization, street food is often the last bastion of a place’s traditions and identity. Choosing to experience Turkish food from the stalls of locals gave us a glimpse into a culture deeply proud of its heritage and the food born from it over time.
The challenge was to narrow down our options to 12. For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to highlight a few of what we tasted. But if you want to catch the full experience, check out our YouTube vlog on Turkish Street Food.
Let’s start with meat! I know, for all my vegan friends, I’m sorry. But again, I love food and I love meat even more. We decided to try two different unique slices of meat from Turkey. Cag Kabob and Doner Kabob. Each cooked very differently.
Cag Kabab — roasted on a spit horizontally and cooked over a fire is almost always lamb. The meat is delicate and sliced in smaller sections. You can see the juices dripping from the spit and the mixture of flavors are just enough that no additional sauces are needed.
Next, we hit Doner Kabab. This meat is less tender and often cooked on a spit vertically either using electric heat or charcoal. Many of the locals will enjoy this as a lunchtime meal or late at night after a rowdy & victorious futbul game. Wrapped in a Pida, with lettuce, onions, and other toppings it almost mimics a Greek Gyro. After tasting both, Stephen and I were split with me leaning toward Doner and Stephen favoring the Cag Kabob.
Who doesn’t like a tall glass of milk with their Oreos? Well, I would hold off ordering Turkish Aryan. This lookalike beverage to milk, is actually yogurt, water, and salt. Many Turks have labeled this the non-alcoholic national beverage of Turkey. We didn’t have this on our original list to try, but when I got my Doner Kabob, it was there beckoning us to try. The verdict? It wasn’t too bad. Definitely an acquired taste. It had that Keifer thickness, but a strong yogurt and salt taste. Many Turks find the health benefits from the salt helpful for hydration especially during those high temp Turkish summers.
Finally, on our dessert list, we included this unique dessert made with chicken. That’s right, chicken. KazanDibi is a traditional Turkish pudding with ground chicken, butter, milk, rice flour, sugar, starch, and flavorings such as vanilla, rosewater, or ground mastic gum. Its name translates to Burnt Bottom, but not because of the pudding, it's the burnt bottom of the pan it's cooked in. It was a unique sweet treat, but the consistency of the mastic gum made it difficult to eat and the sweet factor didn’t kick in until after several bites. Defintely, a try once type of dessert.
We enjoyed our day exploring Istanbul, the history, the architecture, the Grand Baazar, and the delicacies of different foods. This world travel lifestyle continues to be my teacher of history, sociology and now culinary cusine. I am a willing student hungry to learn and I can’t wait to see what’s next! Bon Apetit.
