BobC wrote:
I was stationed in Turkey for 4.5 years, not very far from Istanbul. Wonderful experience, the food is very good, somewhat exotic, lamb heavy, seafood and cheeses (goat) it is very similar in many ways to Greek food, yet different.
Reminds me of an interesting incident a few years back when I was covering an F1 race in Turkey. A race official and I were heading to Tuzla in a cab for dinner and midway decided on seafood as we heard the coastal town had some good offerings. After struggling to tell the driver, who spoke only Turkish, that we wanted to go to a place that served good seafood, I blurted out "fish" in desperation. To our surprise, the driver abruptly stopped his cab on the shoulder of the highway, reached for the glove compartment (I swear I thought he was reaching for a revolver to shoot us) and then whipped out a receipt book.
Apparently, "fish" in Turkish means "receipt' and he thought that for some reason we wanted to end our ride there and then. Relieved, I calmly took the receipt book, drew a fish on the cover and he broke in laughter when I made the international sign what we wanted to eat. We were then promptly taken to a beautiful coastal spot where we were spoilt for choice of seafood restaurants. After paying for the meal, I asked the cashier for "fish" and was duly given a receipt.