Though I’m not as gaga for Turkish food and I am for Greek, there are a couple of dishes that I find myself hankering for now that I’m on to the next destination. My favorite was definitely gozleme, which is like a Turkish quesadilla, using pastry instead of tortilla and filled with cheese and other goodies. I’ve also become a big fan of meze, a combination of salads and dips served before the main meal. And no meal in Turkey would be complete without some hot apple tea to finish it off. I long for apple tea!
Apple tea, my favorite
The most interesting food I ate in Goreme had to be the pottery kebab though, not because it was particularly delicious, but because the dark, mysterious man who served it to me was wielding a sharp machete. Naturally, for a split second I thought he was going to cut my head off.
I like a little lunchtime drama now and then, don’t you?
Obviously unless I’m writing from beyond the grave (and seriously don’t get your hopes up. I’m a workaholic, but once I’m dead, that nonsense is over), you know that I didn’t get whacked by the Turkish waiter. (Incidentally, he was a pretty handsome fellow, but full of himself. If I’ve learned anything this year on the road it’s that there are some real cads out there! Beware.)
The machete wasn’t a tool of death; it was necessary to crack into my lunch. Pottery kebab is tomato-based meat stew, with lamb, chicken or beef, and veggies, baked inside a clay pot and cracked open at your table. I didn’t really know that when I ordered it, as evidenced by my confused reaction below.
Step 1: I’m skeptical about the man with the machete
Step 2: Wow, that is a machete and it’s a little too close to my head
Step 3: Pretty sure I’m about to lose a hand
Step 4: We did it! I have a tasty, steaming hot Turkish stew in a pot and I still have all my extremities! WIN!
While the stew itself was pretty good, it’s really the experience of cracking into your own scalding hot pottery kebab that makes this a must-do activity in Cappadocia. Bon appetit!
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