Istanbul and Beyond: Culinary Encounters in Modern Turkey

Standing at the crossroads between the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Asia, Turkey boasts astonishingly rich and diverse culinary traditions. Journalist Robyn Eckhardt and her husband, photographer David Hagerman, have spent almost twenty years discovering the country’s very best dishes. Their work has appeared in Saveur, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, 1843 Magazine, and Travel + Leisure.

Their new cookbook Istanbul and Beyond: Exploring the Diverse Cuisines of Turkey (Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcour, 2017) takes readers on an unforgettable epicurean adventure, beginning in Istanbul, home to one of the world’s great fusion cuisines. From there, they journey to the lesser-known provinces, opening a vivid world of flavors influenced by neighboring Syria, Iran, Iraq, Armenia, and Georgia. In their lecture, they will discuss how they conducted their research in Turkey, share the stories of local peoples and recipes, and highlight the importance of particular ingredients in Turkish regional cookery.

Sponsored by Department of History, Professors of the Practice, Academic Enrichment Fund