Photo by Salvator Barki Istanbul née Constantinople might as well be called Metaphor City – you know, that gateway between East and West, straddling Europe and Asia, cleaved by the Bosphorus. It was formally established in AD 330 as the new seat of Christian Rome, preserving its legacy for a millennium as the Byzantine capital, before becoming the command centre of the Ottoman empire. And now? A Nato-belonging, EU-aspiring clash of a place; “melting pot”, contradiction, marriage, whatever. There will be time to dust off your copy of Edward Said’s Orientalism later. Rather enough has been said about the geostrategic nous of the emperor Constantine. The decision to relocate Rome to this strait was, if you will permit the understatement, a civilisationally defining moment. But not nearly enough has been said about Constantine’s evident nose for a good lunch.…