All roads lead to Istanbul

You know how sometimes you read or hear about something, and suddenly find yourself reading and hearing and noticing more and more about that topic? Well, I'm a little bit obsessed with Turkey at the moment. Particularly its history and food.

About seven years ago I stumbled across Barbara Nadel's fabulous Inspector Ikmen mystery series, set in Istanbul. One book led to another, then another, and I try to space them out so I don't read them all before the author has time to write more! So far, so good; I'm just about to start the eleventh book in the series (and 23 have been published, to date) so they won't run out any time soon. Phew. The cast of characters, locations, snippets of history and occasional forays to other parts of Turkey are all fascinating.

Then I read the lovely Ottoman Odyssey: Travels Through a Lost Empire by Alev Scott. Part travelogue, part history book, it explores twelve countries to find remaining traces of the Ottoman empire. Scott's descriptions are vivid and her interviews insightful. A glimpse into an exotic region.

Next, a gorgeous debut novel! Barbara Nadel (mentioned above) recommended Nektaria Anastasiadou's recent book A Recipe for Daphne on Twitter and I'm so glad I bought a copy. The story is set amongst Istanbul's Rum (Greek Orthodox) community and weaves together history, culture, food and romance. I thoroughly enjoyed this mouth-watering tale and hope we'll see many more from its brilliant young author.

Last but not least, I'm currently rereading Jen Lin-Liu's delightful On the Noodle Road. During an overland journey from Beijing to Rome, the author considers the various foods, flavours and cooking styles along the Silk Road, and shares experiences with people met along the way. It's been fun to think about the similarities and differences between the foods eaten in the various countries, and how early explorers may have circulated recipes and ingredients from place to place.

We can't travel overseas at the moment so I've been indulging in the next best thing, armchair travel through reading. Turkey is on my wish list if our borders ever reopen.