FLAVORS of TURKEY (9 Days - 8 Nights)

Fusing the most creative elements of modern and traditional Ottoman and Mediterranean cuisine, Matiana Travel offers unique and exotic culinary lessons for today's sophisticated travelers, through the Ottoman palace kitchen, experienced in authentic banqueting rooms of former sultans, to anatolian village rock hewn carved homes.
Vibrant dusk ‘til dawn street markets, fresh herbs and vegetables and some of the best seafood in the region allows us to offer a rare taste of Turkey’s signature menus through wine tasting programs, private and group cooking classes and special gourmet tours.
 

COOKING in CAPPADOCIA

This tour is designed to give you a glimpse of the unique land of Cappadocia, from the Museum Hotel, the perfect Belvedere, and also to teach you how to cook and prepare a few local dishes of Turkish Cuisine, one of the most renowned and delectable cuisines of the world. You will learn the subtle tricks that you cannot find in cookery books for preparing these dishes to perfection, so that when you get back home you’ll have something really very special to offer your friends. Next time you invite them to dinner.

COOKING in ISTANBUL

Start your Gourmet experience at the famous Spice Bazaar, learning about familiar and not so familiar ingredients; saffron, mastic and musk. Take time to taste Turkish dried beef, ‘pastırma’ and cheeses, perhaps sample the most famous Turkish coffee followed by sweets and Turkish delight from the hands of the long established Hacı Bekir sweet maker. Before lunch, transfer to Beyoglu and the Fish Bazaar (Balik Pazari) and wander into the side street of Nevizade and the meyhanes for more meze than you can imagine. After lunch take time to see what is in season from greengrocers and fishmongers hawking their trade. Watch as a butcher deftly prepares offerings of offal then visit the smaller shops running off the bazaar where you will find caviar at some of the cheapest prices in the world. Stop to sample the famous ‘tursular’ or pickles of every type of vegetable and fruit. And just when your senses are brimming, finish the day at ‘Gulluoglu’, baklava factory to see just how some many layers of pastry go into the sticky, sweet dessert.

Gourmet's Tour of the Spice Bazaar followed by cooking demonstration

Start your Gourmet experience at the famous Spice Bazaar, learning about familiar and not so familiar ingredients; saffron, mastic and musk. Take time to taste Turkish dried beef, ‘pastirma’ and cheeses, perhaps sample the most famous Turkish coffee followed by sweets and Turkish delight from the hands of the long established Hacı Bekir sweet maker. After lunch, stop to pick up some of the freshest ingredients then enjoy an afternoon discovering the secrets of Turkish and Ottoman foods.
Learn how dolma is rolled, fragrant pilafs prepared and seasonal vegetables are braised in olive oil. Try your hand at stuffing a pepper or mixing a refreshing fruit sherbet if you feel inclined! Then sit back and enjoy sampling the dishes prepared.