Cheap tickets and a wealth of Turkish cuisine

There is lots to see in sunny Istanbul once visitors have arrived on cheap flights, but between all the magnificent mosques and impressive architecture, tourists are bound to get hungry.

What is Turkish food, and where can you get it? From the ubiquitous, cheap doner kebab to delicate soups and fantastic pastries, Turkish cuisine is a world of its own and well worth exploring after your flights to Istanbul.

Doner kebap is perhaps the most famous Turkish culinary export. You’ll see doner stands and restaurants throughout Istanbul for varying prices and quality. You might even be able to find it in your own country without searching for cheap tickets to Istanbul. The main ingredient is lamb cooked while slowly spinning on a giant skewer. After slices of lamb are shaved off, they are served with rice or pilaf and sometimes with peppers and tomatoes. Pilaf is a staple throughout Turkey. Some common variations are liver and herb pilaf, spicy anchovy pilaf, and pilaf with eggplant.

You’ll find excellent meat and seafood dishes in Turkey. There are countless smoked lamb or boiled lamb dishes to try. Homemade meatballs, or kofte, are popular as well, and fried liver makes its way into many dishes. As the country is surrounded by sea, you’ll find fish dishes including anchovy, sardine, bonito, bream, swordfish, red mullet and white grouper. Despite all these delicious meat and fish dishes, Turks are great at incorporating veggies into meals as well. Many vegetable dishes are considered to be main courses, like vegetable stews, stuffed veggies, and fried eggplant. Most of Turkey’s restaurants are very safe, but visitors should still be wary of trying out lots of new foods right before their return flights.

For drinks, try a strong cup of Turkish coffee, served either sweet or bitter. A typical drink is ayran, a salty beverage made with a base of yogurt. Ayran is a great accompaniment for the more spicy varieties of Turkey’s cuisine. Eating meze is a great way to get an immersion in Turkish cuisine. Meze, a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern tradition, are a series of small, appetizer-sized dishes that you can mix and match to try lots of Turkish delicacies. These are often compared with Spanish tapas. A few examples of these are eggplant salad, fried liver with onions and hot pepper, hummus, cucumber with yogurt and mint, and grilled octopus. Mix it up and try some meze after you arrive through cheap flights to Istanbul. Cheap tickets and cheap flights deals will make all these Turkish culinary delicacies sound even more tempting. Grab your discount airline tickets and start planning your own food tour.