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Fire in the Boat! It's pretty cool to see a fire in a boat, and that's what you used to see down by the quai in Istanbul's Eminönü district on the Golden Horn as the boatmen preparedbalik-ekmek (fish & bread) grilled fish sandwiches. I'll bet these boats have been here, selling sandwiches, for centuries. They'd catch fish in the Bosphorus at night, then cruise here to sell them. Light the grill, clean and fillet the fish, cook 'em up, cut a loaf of fresh Turkish sourdough bread in half, slice it lengthwise, slide the fillet in, salt and serve. They were delicious, and they cost only about US$1. As Turkey readies itself to enter the European Union, the fish-sandwich boats have disappeared, victim of EU food-service regulations. By the way, the jaw-breaker word on the front of the roof, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, is the Besmele, the blessing pronounced by every good Muslim at the start of any endeavor: "In the name of God, the Omnipotent, the All-Merciful." |
