(30 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Istanbul, Turkey – 23 May 2025
1. Various of vendor preparing and stuffing a baked potato
2. SOUNDBITE (Turkish) Suleyman Dogan, baked potato vendor: ++STARTS ON SHOT 1++
"The potatoes are big. There’s demand from abroad. In addition to our own citizens, we have Arab customers, Europeans, coming from abroad."
3. Mid of potato
4. Sauce being put on potato
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Fabien Watterlot, tourist from France: ++STARTS ON SHOT 3++
"We were coming with our kids here and we really enjoyed to be in this area and eating potatoes 20 years ago."
6. Close of sauce being poured on potato
7. SOUNDBITE (Turkish) Rahime Yoldas, Istanbul resident: ++STARTS ON SHOT 6 AND PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 8 AND 9++
"I think it’s a great meal because it’s huge. This isn’t something one person can eat. Two people can comfortably eat it and be satisfied. It’s filling."
8. Wide of vendor preparing potato
9. Vendor giving potato to couple
10. Couple posing with baked potato UPSOUND No name given (English): “Very good!”
STORYLINE:
Whether plain, oozing with extra cheese or dripping with ketchup, Istanbul’s beloved street snack — the supersized “kumpir” — is no ordinary baked potato.
Locals and visitors alike flock to the city’s waterfront neighborhood of Ortakoy where vendors expertly split and stuff hulking jacket potatoes with spoonfuls of pickled red cabbage to scoops of creamy Russian salad and everything in between.
This vibrant and towering heap of comfort food is a flavorful salute to the versality of the humble spud that’s being honored worldwide on Friday, the International Day of Potato.
In 2023, the United Nations declared May 30 as the day to celebrate the tuber – a common nutritional crop with over 5,000 varieties consumed by billions of people across the globe, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organization.
Vendors in Istanbul say an average of two to three tons of potatoes are consumed each month during peak season.
Cultivated primarily in central Turkey, these spuds are specifically chosen for their size.
Weighing in at around 1kg each (2.2 lbs) they’re equipped to withstand mounds of toppings that embody an authentic “kumpir.”
Fabien Watterlot, a tourist from northern France, used to live in Istanbul 20 years ago and made his way back to Ortakoy on a recent trip back.
“We were coming with our kids here and we really enjoyed to be in this area,” he said as he sat in the shade, digging into his foil-wrapped potato.
Rahime Yoldas, an Istanbul local, believes the fixed price of 300 Turkish Lira ($7.60 USD) and free top ups is particularly appealing to Turkish families on a budget.
“It’s a great meal because it’s huge,” Yoldas commented between bites of the dish she savored with her daughter. “Two people can comfortably eat it and be satisfied.”
AP video shot by Mehmet Guzel
AP production: Ayse Weiting
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