Street Vendor Istanbul
Istanbul: in the 90’s
In traditional Islamic households, the men do the shopping. The woman might give her man a list but he does the marketing. You could say, “Oh, the poor woman stuck in her house.” Or you could say, “Lucky her, she never has to go to the store.” At my age, I’m thinking the latter.
On my first visit to Istanbul, I remember seeing the cucumber vendor on one of the back streets near the Grand Bazaar. He had a cart filled with the vegetable, a big jug of yogurt and a sharp butcher knife. It was a hot day. Istanbullis lined up to buy a cucumber, have it sliced down the middle (not quite in two) then the cut sides slathered with creamy, fresh yogurt. Better than a Coca Cola for quenching thirst.
A porter struggles up the steep streets of Sultanahmet. He carries a load of shoes from one jobber to the next. I saw men sitting at tiny tables on the sidewalk gluing soles to shoes. That was their factory. That type of work was still going on in 2008 but at that time, the men were indoors at regular workbenches. Still gluing by hand, though. The shoe manufacturers (owners) often had Russian surnames on the front of their store.