Top 5 Food Items You Can't Leave Istanbul Without

At 1 am I joined the queue at the Atatürk International Airport in Istanbul to check in for the Aeroflot flight to Moscow. My queuing buddies were mostly my countrymen and their luggage piled up on the trolleys: everyone looked like they've been up to some great shopping. I felt awkward about my 35 kg luggage though. I knew I was the only one in the queue with about 20 kg of food, cooking utensils and culinary books stacked in my suitcase.

1. Spices. 

Spices are the backbone of the Turkish cooking: their variety may be not as mind-blowing as in the South Asia or Middle East yet no single Turkish dish is made without throwing in a good pinch of spices. Many spices you will find in the local markets of Istanbul are grown in the country -  black pepper (karabiber), red flake pepper (pul biber), wild thyme (kekik), min (nane), cumin (kumion), or sumac (sumak). Turkish saffron (safran) grown in the Northern Anatolia is not as good as Moroccan but much cheaper and will suffice for daily purposes.





If you are going to do some spice shopping in Istanbul but not sure about what to buy you may want to educate yourself little bit: as you dine during your trip to Istanbul ask what spices give the flavor to the dishes you are eating. By the time you get down to the shopping you will have a list. Spices are best bought from the specialty shops that sell them loose. I have a prejudice against the pre-packaged stripes featuring up to a dozen of spices - they may look like a good present but I doubt their freshness. 100g of any spice should be enough to keep you going for quite a while.

Where to buy: Kral Elmas, Has?rc?lar Cad. No:6, Eminönü.

The shop is a little Aladdin's cave of flavors and aromas where you can find virtually any spice. They have a good turnover and hence the spices are fresh. Besides the spices here you can shop for a wide range of natural products such as soaps, oils, dried fruits and nuts, seeds, herbs and house herbal teas. The lady running the shop speaks great English - do ask her for an advice on the proper use of any product she sells.

2. Dried Fruits and Nuts. 

Turkey is the world's largest producer of hazelnut (or "the miracle nut", as it is labeled in the trade promotion of this Turkish crop) and among the world's leaders in the production of dried figs, apricots and raisins. The quantity definitely translates into quality here. I don't think many people can indifferently pass a shop with the sacks of dried fruits and nuts to the cries of the salesmen encouraging you to sample them. Golden raisins and dried black apricots, dried mulberry and hazelnuts, dried plums and çerez, a snack of mixed nuts served with apéritifs in Turkey. You really can got nuts while choosing between the shelled (kabuklu) or peeled, salted (tuzlu) or plain, roasted (kavrulmu?) or fresh, grounded (toz), flaked (file) or whole.

When you buy nuts in Istanbul you need to pay attention to their smell and taste: in time the oil in nuts gets rancid and you want to make sure that they do not smell oil that has gone off or taste bitter. You want to be particularly, careful when you buy peeled walnuts or any roasted or ground nuts as those tend to go rancid faster. Trust your taste buds rather than a pushy salesman - you don't need to have a very sensitive palate to tell the rancid taste.





Also, beware of the prices that may range widely for seemingly the same nuts: try them to find out the difference. Usually the shops place the cheapest (most attractive) offerings in the foregrounds but it it really worth to walk in and try the more expensive types (usually newly harvested crops) inside the shop and only then make your choice. 

Where to buy: Kesekler, Tahmis Cad, No. 11 Eminönü. A little shop specializing in dried nuts and fruits. There are many in n Eminönü yet I like these guys for the high-quality products and Olympic customer-handling skills.

3. Turkish Delight.

These sugar-dusted cubes of thickened milk or fruit syrup often made with dry nuts are also called lokum. The treat has been know since the Ottoman times when it was eaten for digestion after meals. Of all the Turkish sweets this one is the easiest to carry and store (keeps up to three months) - that's why it has become such a hit among the tourists coming to Istanbul. Everybody seems to be making and selling it - you will see a wealth of varieties of Turkish delight made of grape syrup (pekmez), milk, with walnuts or pistachio added, flavored with rose water, mint, fruits or spices. Once you are in Istanbul it will be a shame to get a pack of mix Turkish delight at a supermarket or at the airport duty-free. Make some time to stroll down to a good specialty shop for the freshest lokum made according to the recipes that have kept Istanbullus happy for over a century.

Where to buy: Hafiz Mustafa, Hamidiye Cad, No. 84-86, Bahçekapi

One of the sweet shops in Istanbul that has become an institution. They have a few outlets yet I prefer this little one in Bahçekapi for the really cosy atmosphere. You will not leave until they will make you sample all kinds of Turkish delights, cacao-coated nuts and chocolate-coated coffee beens. As a bonus: you will not be able to carry it home and thus it is almost compulsory to sit down for some of the best in town syruped delicacies - try soaked walnuts or orange skin with house ice-cream (dondurma) or kaymak (clotted cream). A cup of Turkish coffee or tea will help you come down to earth and gather your thoughts after the heavenly indulgence so you can continue your food shopping.

4. Cheese.

If you have been lucky to have a proper breakfast at your hotel or even more luck has poured on you and you had a chance to breakfast at a Turkish home you will know that Turkey has something to brag about when it comes to cheeses. Besides the white cheese (beyaz peynir) that is a staple for breakfast and a king of starters served with melon for your dinner with rak? there is a whole bunch of tastes, shapes, colors and textures - yellow blocks of ka?ar peyniri, light-yellow fumed çerkez peyneri, crumbly lor peyniri (curd cheese) or white fibers of tel peyniri (wire cheese). For better or worse, Turks do not seem to care as much as French or Italians about marketing their cheeses outside the country. That's why if you have fallen for some of Turkish cheeses during your stay in Istanbul (or just willing to take my word for it) you need to get some cheese shopping done. 

Look, smell and try. What may seem as plain vanilla (white cheese) actually comes in different flavors - as I personally like creamier texture I make sure not to get drier and slightly bitter varieties. Watch out for molds and oily spots  on the cheese- as most of the Turkish cheese is either fresh or soft presence of molds on the surface mean that the cheese is off - quite unlike to the hard varieties as with them you can just cut off the molds and still eat the rest.

Where to buy: Muratbey, Tahmis Sokak, No. 42, Eminönü. 

The shop features a range of packaged and fresh cheeses by Muratbey, a major cheese producer in Turkey that has a wide range of different cheeses including the regional varieties. There is a room to get really adventurous with your cheese shopping here: venture for Cypriot haloumi cheese (hellim) that combines sheep and goat milk or pungent sheep cheese with herbs and wild garlic from Van (Eastern Anatalia bordering with Armenia) called Van otlu peyniri. All the fresh cheeses are available for sample. Besides the Muratbey cheeses here you can buy the rest of the traditional Turkish breakfast fare too: honey, tahini paste, cured olives and what not.  

5. Turkish Coffee.

Black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love - this way Turks affectionally refer to the coffee they prepare. Traditional Turkish coffee is distinctive from other types in many ways: thick foam it is served with keeps it warm so you can enjoy it more, its velvet texture stays on the palate longer bringing a good rounding to a good meal and the grounds remaining in the cup are very handy when it comes to fortune telling. Not everyone falls for this traditional Turkish drink but if you do and would love to ship some home there are a few things you need to know before buying.





Turkish coffee does not refer to a particular type of beans or blend but rather has to do with a particular roast, way of preparation and serving. Mostly Arabica coffee beans from Central America and Brazil are used to make the blend; they get roasted and then grounded into very fine powder, much finer than for espresso. Turkish coffee is prepared in cezve, a Turkish coffeepot, by mixing coffee with water, desired amount of sugar and then bringing the mixture to boil as you continuously stir it. 

Where to buy: Mehmet Efendi, Tahmis Sokak 66 Eminönü. 

Mehmet Efendi is a cult brand of Turkish coffee. Its legacy has been shining since the late 19th century when Mehmet Efendi started selling roasted and ground coffee beans, which was a true innovation at that time when roasting and grounding were done at home. For over a century the shop in Istanbul has been easy to find by the intoxicating aroma of the coffee beens and a long queue moving fast along its windows. You can get Turkish coffee in the packs of 100g, 250g and 500g; they also offfer espresso or filter coffee grounds as well as cacao. Their coffee set with a pair of coffee cup and cezve makes a wonderful present from Turkey.

Taste before buying: By tasting you will get to understand the reasons (or lack of thereof) behind the variation in prices and will make sure  to buy  something you personally like. What is the point in buying a highly-praised local speciality if you don't like the taste? 

Ask for vacuum packing: Most of the shops offer this service free-of-charge and it will really help keep your purchases fresh without a fridge for a few days, whole piece (instead of all over your bag) over the long flight back home and then store it back home if you decide not to open it at once.
Shop where locals do: In Istanbul you will soon notice that there are places with very photogenic window shops and displays of their products and there are places to actually shop at. You will hardly see any local shopping at Spice Market: this market, also known as Egyptian bazaar, is a picturesque place to explore and take photos but for better food shopping (and definitely better prices) you should head out to the stalls just outside of it. Most of the shops  I mention in the post are located right outside it or in the immediate vicinity. 
Buy from a reputable, high-turnover supplier: That way you make sure you get the freshest produce of highest quality at reasonable prices. In Istanbul and all over Turkey those tend to be specialty shops often located in the key commercial districts. 
Leave your bargaining skills for the carpet seller: If you shop at a local market in Istanbul hardly anyone would try to reap you off (quite on the contrary to the Spice Market where you should bargain hard). Often the prices will be written on the small boards stuck in the bowls / sacks with the goods. You still may ask for a discount if you are buying a bulk but do not get upset if the salesperson refuses to give you any - it is just not customary here. There is pleasure in bargaining but nothing compares to the pleasure of getting the freshest food of the highest quality. 
Now I have a question to you: what kind of packaged food from Turkey you have tried and liked? Or, if you have been to Istanbul - what kind of food you shopped for and brought home? Do you have suggestions on some good shops I've not listed here? Looking forward to your ideas and recommendations.