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Food & cultureBy Clever Tourists · Published
Turkey has two shopping systems that barely overlap. The discount chains — BİM, A101 and Şok — are where most households buy staples, with a small rotating range and very low prices. Migros, Carrefour and Macrocenter are the full supermarkets. And once a week, on a fixed day, a pazar sets up on a street in every neighbourhood and sells produce at prices the supermarkets cannot match.
Every neighbourhood has a weekly market on a set day, and locals know it the way they know the bin collection. Streets close, stalls go up at dawn and come down in the evening.
Produce is fresher and cheaper than the supermarket, and the range is much wider — several kinds of aubergine, dozens of greens, and whatever is in season that week.
Prices are sometimes marked and sometimes quoted, and a little good-humoured bargaining is normal at the edges of the market though not in the supermarket.
Ask at your hotel which day and where; it is the single most useful shopping question in Turkey.
Pul biber is the mild, flaky red pepper, and İsot is the darker, smokier pepper from Urfa. Both are used as condiments at the table, not just in cooking.
Nar ekşisi is pomegranate molasses, sour and syrupy, used on salads and grilled vegetables. It is the most useful bottle to bring home.
Sumak is the dried, sour sumac berry, sprinkled on onions and salads.
Tahini and pekmez (grape molasses) are eaten together at breakfast, and kaymak is the thick clotted cream that goes with honey.
Beyaz peynir is the white brined cheese, sold in tins and blocks, and it is the breakfast cheese.
Kaşar is the yellow melting cheese, and tulum is the sharp, crumbly aged one.
Sucuk is the fermented sausage with garlic and pepper, and pastırma is the air-dried cured beef. Both travel well.
Lokum (Turkish delight) and baklava are the sweets, and the good versions come from shops rather than the airport. Pistachio baklava from Gaziantep is the reference point.
Çay is the everyday tea, grown around Rize on the Black Sea, and it is drunk from small tulip glasses all day.
Türk kahvesi is the fine-ground coffee cooked in a cezve, served with a glass of water.
Figs from Aydın and pomegranates in autumn are the seasonal highlights, and citrus comes from the Mediterranean coast in winter.
Ramadan changes supermarket hours and the evening shelf, and Kurban Bayramı empties shops for several days.
It varies by neighbourhood. Each area has a fixed weekly market day, and hotels or locals can tell you which day yours falls on.
Pomegranate molasses, a sour syrup used on salads and grilled vegetables. It is the most useful Turkish ingredient to bring home.
Pomegranate molasses, pul biber, sumac, sucuk, pastırma and pistachio sweets. Cheese and fresh bread do not.
Generally yes. The discount chains carry a smaller rotating range at lower prices, while Migros and Carrefour have a fuller selection.
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