Enjoy lunch in local homes, sampling rustic dishes such as tarhana soup, potato borek, aubergines and olives
the formula of enjoying dinner at a home with a family – usually with a guide to translate – followed by a short sightseeing stroll past the sights of Sultanahmet, stopping for Turkish tea, a game of backgammon or to try a shisha pipe. Attraction World has one such tour priced at £32. There are alternatives outside
on an unmistakably authentic meal of pancake-like gozleme and yoghurt drink ayran in Selcuk.
ABOVE: A meal in Cappadocia
of Turkish cuisine. It takes in tourist favourites such as Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar or munching balik ekmek (fish sandwich) cooked fresh at a riverside fish market, but also a few homespun options like learning how to make Turkish lamb-and-chickpea dumplings known as manti, or dining
w DINE WITH THE LOCALS Sharing a meal is always a sociable activity, but especially so in Turkey, where small, mix-and-match mezze are designed to encourage interaction with fellow diners. So what could offer more insight into Turkish cuisine than sharing a meal with a local family? Istanbul has an abundance of tours offering just that, mostly following
Istanbul, often including a market visit instead of sightseeing, as in the case of Viator’s private Cappadocia food and culture tour. This four-hour tour combines a trip to buy ingredients at the market in Ayvali village and a stop at a Turkish coffee house, followed by a hands-on lesson under the watchful eye of a local cook, learning to make bulgur soup, filled ‘borek’ (pastries) and vine-leaf rolls, and ending at a local winery to sample a few Cappadocian wines (from £66.41). It might seem hard to imagine
how this home dining concept could be translated on a group tour, since its success depends on creating an intimate setting and a chance to chat
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travelweekly.co.uk 28 January 2016
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