Turkish Property Port

The Market Gardens in Istanbul Turkey are Disappearing

Historically, like in many other major cities, market gardens could be found throughout Istanbul. Known as Bostans, these highly successful and environmentally friendly market gardens grew a variety of fruit and vegetables. According to a 10th century Byzantium agricultural manual, The Geoponika, vegetables like cabbage, beet, carrot, onions and turnip could be found growing in the urban gardens of Constantinople. It is these ‘bostan’ that helped Constantinople survive an 8-year siege in the 14th century. In recent years a number of the urban gardens have come under threat from developers. After some sustained protests by the people of Istanbul the municipalities started to listen and review their plans and aim to protect a number of the ’Bostan’ but the risk to them is never far away. In a 1,500-year-old culture of urban farming, as the rest of the world takes sustainable growing on board, Istanbul is losing this precious commodity. Environmentalists and urban growers are acting together to protect and promote the value of the Istanbul’s urban market gardens.

Special Fruit and Vegetables from the Istanbul ‘Bostan’.

Special Fruit and Vegetables from the Istanbul

Areas within Istanbul have been world renown for some of their city-grown fruits, sadly some are no longer grown or available within the city.

  • Fragrant Arnavutkoy strawberries named after the area in Istanbul where they were produced, also known as Osmanli or Ottoman strawberries they were a delicacy favoured by Ottoman elite.
  • The delicate purple skinned Kavak fig grown in the Istanbul area of Rumeli Kavagi. This is where the Bosphorus meets the Black Sea, it is a registered green space but is under a certain amount of threat due to the third Bosphorus Bridge. The skin on these luscious figs are so delicate that transporting them is very difficult. It does not take a lot of imagination to visualise the ladies of the harem enjoying these delightful fruits.
  • Cengelkoy cucumbers; grown since Ottoman times on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, these tiny distinctive tasting cucumbers have taken their name from the area. Now grown outside the city the Cengelkoy cucumber still remains very popular for pickling.
  • Yedikule lettuce; this buttery or romaine lettuce is one that has sadly disappeared from the Istanbul soil and is fondly reminisced about by the old time residents. Although the bostan, found in the UNESCO listed walls of Yedilule still exist, they live in uncertain times. Recently an agreement to protect has come into force, hopefully it will be effective and protect these historic yet modern urban gardens.