Istanbul: Delicious Recipes from the Heart of the City
by Özlem Warren

Istanbul sits at a crossroads, geographically and culturally, and its food tells that story better than almost anything else. Award-winning Turkish food writer Özlem Warren, born and raised in Turkey, spent her career sharing her homeland's cuisine before turning her full attention to the city she loves most.

Rather than sticking to the dishes visitors typically encounter, Warren digs into Istanbul's individual neighbourhoods, moving through its breakfast cafés, meze-focused meyhanes, home-style buffet restaurants, bakeries, and streetside carts serving simit, gözleme, and grilled mackerel sandwiches. The result is a collection of more than 80 recipes shaped by the many ethnic groups who have called the city home, from Hünkar Begendi (lamb stew over smoked aubergine) and Soganli Menemen (scrambled eggs with tomatoes, peppers, and onions) to Çerkez Tavugu, a Circassian chicken dish in walnut sauce, and Sekerpare, semolina cookies soaked in syrup and topped with pistachios.

Warren writes with an insider's eye, favouring the regional specialities and local favourites that get overlooked in more touristy accounts of the city, while keeping every recipe approachable for home cooks. It's the follow-up to her earlier books Özlem's Turkish Table and Sebze, both Gourmand Award winners, and cements her reputation as one of the most trusted voices writing about Turkish food today.

Praised by chefs and food writers as a genuine love letter to the city, Istanbul is as much a portrait of a place as it is a cookbook, capturing a metropolis that Warren describes as a feast for every sense.

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