Shane Delia's Spice Journey Turkey

From their gilded palace on Seraglio Point, the Ottoman Sultans ruled an empire that dominated the Mediterranean between 1453 and 1922, and spread their cuisine and culture throughout the Middle East, North Africa and South Eastern Europe. With renewed pride in their Ottoman past, Turkish chefs are rediscovering the ancient recipes that were served to the Sultans, and serving them to eager diners in restored palaces and renovated timber mansions or konaks. The episode follows Shane as he explores the lifestyle of the sultans. Then, wanting to see how the other half lived during Ottoman times, he joins the people of Istanbul in a public ‘Iftar’ feast, a modern revival of an Ottoman tradition. Back in his Melbourne kitchen, Shane cooks up three mouth-watering courses, including: blue eye pastirma; lamb, saltbush and compressed melon; and a luscious clotted cream ice-cream with chocolate soil.

Shane alights at Gallipoli almost 100 years after the famed 1915 ANZAC landings, and gets to know the Dardanelles – witnessing how the local cuisine has been influenced by the incursion of so many different cultures.

Shane meets descendants of Greek Muslim families forcibly relocated to Turkey from Greece in the infamous population exchange of 1923, and is introduced to some of the culinary delicacies they brought with them.

Shane hops aboard a glamorous boat, manoeuvres between the billionaires’ super yachts and motor cruisers that dock in Bodrum, and heads out over the briny blue to experience the seafood that makes this area a foodie heaven.

Shane visits Fethiye, an English tourist haven, to see whether local Turkish food culture has survived the onslaught of mass tourism.

Shane explores some of Turkey’s most famous flavours in Cappadocia, home to an ancient landscape, along with ancient underground cooking techniques.

Shane journeys to the headlands of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers in Turkey and encounters living history on a plate.

Shane journeys north across the Pontic Mountains, to reach the Black Sea port town of Trabzon, where he tracks down a very special fish, known as the hamsi, as well as recipes that do this small, anchovy-like creature, justice.

In Ordu, Shane is introduced to a cuisine whose culinary heritage lies to the north in Georgia, the former Soviet state. As he joins the hazelnut harvest, and visits an emerald green tea plantation, Shane is introduced to an entirely different – and very surprising – school of Turkish cooking.

In Episode 1, Shane got to know the public face of Istanbul. In Episode 10, he peeks behind the veil to discover another side of this city, and its culinary traditions, rarely seen by visitors.