I’ve become that strange girl who photographs her food. I’m not sure if it’s a natural urge that I’ve previously suppressed through social awareness, or a new habit that’s sprung from a sincere appreciation for finding good, safe, yummy eats on the travel trail. Perhaps it’s because food is so connected to the cultures I’m exploring; a sensory story about the produce, customs and national flavours. It could have something to do with me being hungry a lot of the time… Or maybe, I’m just a strange girl who likes to photograph food.
Regardless of the why, I thought I’d go that extra, embarrassing step further and share my photos of food. So here it is, a post about the food of Istanbul; the first in what will likely become a continuing series themed by the places I travel.
Istanbul
Think lamb and spices, yoghurt, pomegranate, pickles and nuts.
Buy French bread, Italian pizza/ pasta and Middle Eastern rice.
Imagine walls of honey-drenched, pistachio-encrusted sweets next to vats of tacky ice-cream tended by fez-wearing men.
Remember to drink çai and Turkish coffee in ornate little cups with and between every meal. Recognise tomato everywhere. 
Taste parsley, salt, tumeric. Order köfte, dümur, kebap, şiş.
Choose fresh produce from bustling market lanes, noisy street vendors and western-fusion restaurants with fancy menus. 
Stay tuned for more foody travel delights as I bring you a budget-conscious exploration of Istanbul in my next post: ‘Must-have Istanbul meals for 10 Turkish Lira’.
Nic Freeman 
Yum, makes my mouth water looking at those photos!
Me too. So many delicious things here and not enough meals in the day. Cheers for reading.
I’m loving this urge you have to shoot and share!
Thanks Gunta 🙂
Hey Nic, it’s perfectly normal for Singaporeans to take pictures of their food. I didn’t realise it until I read a tourist’s blog describing how weird my people are. He saw locals taking pictures of food! Then it finally occurs to me that it is indeed weird. Singapore is a food paradise, we have food festivals too! Hope you’ll visit here one day, I’ll bring you around! Be prepared to drown your cameras with pictures of food!
That sounds like too much fun Lela! Singapore has long been on my list and yet, being so close to Australia, I keep skipping over it for places further abroad. Might have to take you up on that offer one day – especially if food photos are involved 🙂 Thanks for sharing the cultural insight!
😉 I understand. I’ve been skipping AU too!
I’m glad you take these pictures to share with us! SO much good food to look at and now I am hungry again! So much color and beauty!
While I was in Istanbul I took a photo of a hunk of cheese in a refrigerator case wrapped in goat’s skin with the long fur still attached! Do you have any insight as to why this was done? It didn’t make me want to buy the cheese. I loved seeing all of the bunches of colorful dried veggies hung all over the markets.
Thanks Karen, glad you enjoyed them. The cheese wrapped in fur is a mystery to me too – very strange. I didn’t anything like that in my month there. I’ll ask a local friend to shed some light.
hi sunshine, your fetish with food is more likely to be inherited from your mother, just go with it and enjoy
Considered it embraced. The longer I spent away from my own kitchen, my familiar markets and restaurants, the more I appreciate the joy of good, wholesome, flavoursome food (that is GF of course). One of the best things about travelling certainly is the food journey.