Local Tastes: Boza
Well, first I’ll admit that I never liked the taste of it but loved the sound of it: “Boozaaaa” - A sound echoing in the streets reminds me of cold winter nights in my childhood. With their familiar call of 'Boozaa!' street sellers carrying large metal jugs walk in the streets in the evenings, bringing a delicious traditional drink to our doors. Sadly boza sellers are becoming rarer today.Boza is a cold drink made from fermented grain and has a slightly acidic sweet flavour. It is a drink of great antiquity, first originating in Mesopotamia 8.000-9.000 years ago. The Greek historian Xenophon records that boza was made in eastern Anatolia in 401 BC, and stored in clay jars that were buried under the ground. This local speciality remained confined to the region. Then the Turks arrived and took to this nourishing drink and spread it far and wide under the name boza, a word deriving from the...
