Favourite Market Snack in Turkey

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:03:55 -0500

What's good to eat?

One of my favourite Turkish vacation past-times is wandering around the local farmers markets and pazars. As well as providing local slice-of-life activity, it's also a great location for enjoying a cheap snack.

My ultimate snack whilst perusing the local produce and products on sale, is Gozleme.

What is Gozleme?

Make with ultra thin Lavash bread, it's stuffed with any number of different ingredients; folded to form a nice neat packet, and then placed on a domed griddle to heat and brown.

A crowd favourite is white cheese and spinach. Although the cheese looks like feta, it has a much milder flavour, and it soft and creamy when warmed in a gozleme. You can also order gozleme with any number of vegetable ingredients, and for the carnavors, there's also meat options available.

They usually fold and part-cook the popular flavour combinations, and then when you order it, they'll pop it back on the griddle to warm it up again, and heat to perfection. The way gozleme are heated, leave small round browned areas over the bread - which resemble little brown eyes - and that's where this snack gets its name (Goz = eye).

Guaranteed - if you order a gozleme while walking around a local market, it'll be many more hours before you need to eat again!

Strolling through Yalikavak Farmers Market

Fri, 9 Mar 2012 13:03:28 -0500

How do you spend your vacation time?

Whether your a culture vulture, a beach bum or an adrenaline junkie in search of your next activity, there's one sure fire way of immersing yourself in the local culture, that'll also provide you will some excellent photo opportunities.

Each day on the Bodrum Peninsula, you'll be able to find a local pazar (farmers market) being held in one of the towns or villages in the area, and Thursday is Yalikavak's day to host.

Yalikavak Farmers Market

Sure, Bodrum and Turgutreis have bigger markets, but I don't think they can hold a candle to Yalikavak's weekly market, on the northern coast of the Bodrum Peninsula. Over the past couple of years, this market has grown steadily, but it still retains its small town charm.

Even if you have no intention of putting your hand in your pocket, and parting with a few Lira, it's still well worth, meandering around the market to absorb the intoxicating ambiance and aromas of the pazar.

I love observing the local stall holders peddling their wares, and am more than happy to taste the fresh fruit samples they're enthusiastic about sharing.

My husband is a little bit of a germaphobe, so the thought of accepting a small morsel from a gnarled hand with the trace of a days honest labour in the fields, still visible under this nails, must have been a real leap of faith. But the snack on offer was just too good to consider refusing.

What was he enticed with?

Image a plump ripe fresh fig, split open by those gnarled hands, with a walnut embedded in the succulent flesh, and then topped with a blob of creamy mild goats cheese. Delicious!