Jon Does Some Culinary Exploration

My boyfriend loves to try new and different foods. So, when he came to Turkey, he insisted on sampling some of the more unusual treats Turkey has to offer. 

First up is tavuk gogsu, which means "chicken breast." It is basically a thick milk pudding dessert which has chicken in it. When foreigners first hear about the dessert, they get grossed out because they imagine large chunks of chicken inside of a rice pudding mixture. On a night out Jon ordered this dessert just to see what it was all about (right). It turns out that this tavuk gogsu does indeed include chicken breast, but it is finely ground up and mixed in with the pudding, so that there are hardly any chunks of KFC swimming in there, but the pudding has a grainy texture and a faint hint of chicken-y goodness. I had a bite, but I can report that Jon ate the whole thing.

Jon's other divergence in the traditional culinary path was a visit to my friend Ali, whose family owns a pickle shop in the fish bazaar in Uskudar, which is in the Asian side of Istanbul. In this shop you can find a wide array of pickled vegetables, delicious olives, vine leaves, pomegranate and grape sauces, various kinds of vinegars, and so, so much more. One of the Turks' favorite past-time is to invite their foreign friend to take a sip of what looks to be a harmless pink fruit punch, when in fact that pink drink is pickle juice, which packs quite the punch and apparently is a tried and true hangover remedy. I like to visit Ali's shop and once before, feeling brave and curious to try something new, I sampled the pink pickle juice and salgam, a milder juice that is darker in color and made from fermented vegetables. I dragged Jon down to Uskudar to meet Ali of course, but also to challenge him to partake in the delights of the pickle shop (below). Ali was kind enough to serve Jon up a cup full of selected pickled vegetables, filled up with everyone's favorite pink pickled concoction. Jon ate all of the pickled vegetables, and commented that they were really great! I myself enjoyed a pickle and an olive or two. Delicious!