Midye Dolmasi

I know I've mentioned before that I like Turkish food. There is one thing that I like more than anything else. This food is the cause of much discussion among locals and foreigners alike.

Midye Dolması

Midye - mussels
dolma - stuffed

So I don't know exactly how they do it, but the end result is what looks like a closed mussel. In fact the meat inside has been cooked with spicy seasoned rice. I think they use red hot pepper and cinnamon. There's not a lot of pepper, you can still taste all of the flavours. So when you buy midye dolma, the vendor guy opens the shell, and uses one half of the shell to scrape any rice and mussel that may be stuck to the other side, and squeezes lemon over it. So what you get is a half shell containing a mouthful of rice and seafood. If you think it sounds delicious, you're right! What's more, the price is great. Usually they have a tray with 2 or 3 different sizes for different prices. I've seen the smallest for 200 000 turkish lira (which is 0.20 New Turkish Lira), which is somewhere near15 cents US. There are also some for 250 000, 300 000 and sometimes 400 000 and 500 000 (about 40 cents in US money).The price is right and it's a delicious meal! So what's the fuss about? Well, this isn't something you buy in a restaurant. It's readily available everywhere and it's street food. The guys who sell it appear out of nowhere with a tray. They set up shop, open the midye, serve it to you and collect your money and you eat while standing on the sidewalk with traffic going by. There's a lot of them too. Apparently, in one guide book, they have been referred to as "gastroenteritis time bombs" (although, I'm inclined to believe that might be the Fodor's Guide (a.k.a. the Fogies' Guide, which also tells you where the best bingo halls in any given city are!). So, you may wonder, why I venture to eat street food that could possibly cause gastric upset... well the thing is, I was first introduced to midye dolma by my friend Tolga, back in 1991 when we were at the summer house. We used to spend the day on the beach, and a guy would come by in the afternoon selling midye dolma out of the back of the truck. Everyone and their parents and sister would come running out to buy them and eat their fill. There was never any mention of gastro or any other disease. In fact, the midye dolma truck was more popular than the ice cream truck among the kids! It's one of those flavours you remember forever. for a month I ate large quantities of this stuff daily and never got sick. Neither did anyone I know. In fact I've never known anyone to get sick eating it. So when I came back here and saw them, dude! Dig in! I was here last year with Lyndsay and Aida and Veronica and we had some in Taksim. They all loved it too - oh yeah, there's also deep fried midye, but that's greasy and fattening.
The other teachers who have tried midye dolma are all as addicted to it as I am. we all agree that the flavour and enjoyment one gets from eating them far outweighs the hypothetical risk of gastroenteritis. They're that good. Those who haven't tried it, however, are adamant that the thought of eating them is absolutely disgusting and that they will never in a million years try one.
So that makes me wonder - how do people actually try them? I found out the other night. Josh insisted that he would never try it. He and Mark and I were walking home one night, and we passed my midye guy (yeah, I have a guy I buy from frequently). I was like "who's having one with me?" Josh was about to say yes, but Mark talked him out of it.... It's only a matter of time now! Ha!
The locals have a different problem. Apparently, Muslims don't eat the meat of mensturating female animals. Apparently, according to them, female mussels menstruate. Because one can't tell the difference between a female mussel and a male mussel, there is a chance that the one you eat may have been a menstruating female before being cooked to death, and so people with stronger religious inclinations (not a large portion of the population) don't eat them. I find the idea of a female mussel having a period absolutely fascinating and a bit off the wall. I'm going to check it out now... maybe after I have some midye dolma....