If the word ‘pizza’ comes from the word ‘pita,’ then the ‘pide’ must be the missing link. 
Our first taste of the Turkish pizza was when we lived in Washington, DC. Our favorite neighborhood restaurant, once it opened, was the Turkish place on 8th street, about two blocks from our home. We took tons of people there, many of them couchsurfers, where we almost always ordered a pide, or two or three…
If you can imagine a canoe shaped pizza, (New York style, not that nasty, greasy stuff from Chicago) then you can imagine a pide. (Editor’s Note: Ahem, what Danny?) The toppings are usually a bit different bit different than we’d have at home however. The most common pide is the …

Call the dentist! Baklava is probably the only dessert in the world that I can have just one piece and walk away. It’s seriously sweet. A combination of phyllo dough, honey and nuts, baklava is a national dessert here in Turkey. But don’t tell that to the Syrians, Lebanese, Greeks or pretty much anyone else between here and Mongolia who also claim baklava as their own.
Made in enormous trays, cut and sprinkled with pistachios, baklava is decadently sweet. Ramadan’s evening meal, Iftar, seems to always include dessert. It’s no wonder given how delicious they are here in Turkey, and I swear since Ramadan started I’ve seen more and more Baklava sold on the streets. It is advertised in nearly every …

Everyone in the world likely has a different favorite after a night out on the town. Back in DC the late-night snack is usually a Jumbo Slice of pizza from the nearest greasy pizzeria. This is the case assuming you’re nowhere near GWU – whose late night of choice is Manouch.  Manouch delivers a greasy hot dog smothered in onions and relish and a philosophy lesson on your Id, Ego, and Super-Ego that you might have received in class had you not been up all night talking with Manouch the evening prior. But I digress.
We were lucky enough to Couchsurf for half of our time in Istanbul and this meant that we were in the company of …

One of our first Foodie Friday’s when we reached Arabia was that of shwarma. Meat roasting over an open flame mixed with wonderful veggies and served up on some version of bread. We’ve eaten this all over the place since but by the name of Doner Kebab in Germany and if we get to Greece, there it will be called a gyro. I’m writing about the Doner now not because it is so different but because it is the type of food, that almost perfectly describes Turkey’s place in the world, straddling two continents.
It was the Turks who brought this delicious dish to Germany (although we heard at least one German say that it was from Berlin). It is Istanbul …