f you're in the mood for love, you should keep an eye out for Turkey’s traditional orchid icecream. Rumoured to be an aphrodisiac, the ice cream is made from the ground, dried tubers of native mountain orchids and is available in an array of flavours.
With just two main meals in a day – brunch and dinner – there are plenty of in-between opportunities to enjoy apple or peppermint tea served in ornate glasses or super-strength black coffee served with sweet tidbits such as rosewater Turkish delight, honey-soaked pastries and sugar roasted nuts.
Vendors in the street bazaars encourage customers to ‘try before they buy’, so in addition to stocking up on the
pungent array of colourful spices and buying fresh wood-fired bread, visitors generally wander out of the markets with a very full belly.
Visitors generally stroll out of
the markets with a very full belly
The evening meal is the most social gathering of the day, so while Turkey is largely Muslim (and therefore alcohol-free), there are some regions where boza, a drink made from fermented millet is still enjoyed alongside a few puffs from the shisha – a hookah pipe, or ‘hubbly bubbly’, from which locals smoke magenta-coloured apple tobacco.
Turkish Bread
