The Focal Plane

A new food and photo book called "Istanbul Eats: Exploring the Culinary Backstreets" hit the market mid July and breaks open the gastronomic mysteries of Turkey's largest city and biggest tourist destination. Co-written and shot by EurasiaNet contributor Yigal Schleifer and Ansel Mullins, the book is the first spin-off from the duo's successful blog Istanbuleats.com. Currently the English-language book is only for sale in Turkey -- in stores and through online Turkish book sellers -- but may be available soon on Amazon.com and other international book sites.

Yigal's "5 and 5" - five questions and five photos - will get your mouth watering and your tummy grumbling.


1. What inspired you to do this photo book?
Istanbuleats.com was launched in April of last year, as a joint project between me and Ansel Mullins, another American living here, who works in the architectural restoration field. Although it started as a blog/website, we always felt like the subject -- Istanbul's best local and authentic restaurants -- would be ideal for a photo-rich book, since the people, places and food tell such a compelling visual story. We felt like a good would be a great way to celebrate some of the unsung heroes of Istanbul's culinary scene.

2. Aren't there already plenty of restaurant guides for Istanbul - so why another one?

Yerevan is hosting the Golden Apricot Film Festival from July 11 to 18, attracting international thespians, including Italian actor Claudia Cardinale (top), and directors, including American film maker Rob Nilsson (center). The festival will screen more than 125 films from more than 35 countries, including Iraq, Japan, Bosnia, United States, Venezuela and Iceland. Awards will be handed out best feature film, best documentary and best Armenian film, including “Dialogues” by director Gagik Ghazare (second from bottom).


Anahit Hayrapetyan is a freelance photojournalist based in Yerevan.

Temo Bardzimashvili

Madonna, a 16-year-old Roma bride, poses in her wedding gown in the Georgian village of Leninovka. Weddings are one of the few traditions the Roma of Georgia continue today. Lasting for three or more days, the wedding follows strict rules cherished by the ethnic Roma community of Georgia. Though most Roma of Leninovka live on the verge of poverty, they try to make sure that every marriage ceremony has a feast overflowing with food and drink.

Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.

Nichole Sobecki

Tomorrow we will post a beautifully shot audio slideshow of an ancient wrestling tournament that has taken place in Turkey for several centuries. Nichole Sobecki, an Istanbul-based reporter and photojournalist, talks about the event during a three-minute slideshow of black-and-white images of the greased wrestlers.

With this opening entry to the new EurasiaNet photo blog I am featuring the recent announcement of winners for the OSCE photo contest 2010 called Tolerance, Transparency, Tradition, Trust. A video of the some of the winning and finalist entries can be seen below.

A Russian language version of the video is also available, along with a gallery of the winners' and finalists' images.

Eric Gourlan, who shot for EurasiaNet in 2006 and 2007 in Kyrgyzstan, was one of the winners. Other finalists included Vadim Mudarisov from Kazakhstan and Laili Palvonova from Tajikistan.

The winners of the OSCE contest were announced June 29 at the OSCE High-level Conference on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination in Astana, where the images are on exhibition.