Street Kiosk · Fermented Grain Drink
Boza
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Boza's alcohol content is so low (about 1%) that it slipped past Ottoman-era drinking restrictions for centuries.
Boza is a thick, low-alcohol drink made by fermenting boiled millet, wheat, or bulgur with sugar and water until it turns tangy and faintly fizzy. Street vendors ladle it from tall jars into glasses and top it with a dusting of cinnamon, often alongside roasted chickpeas on the side. In colder months it's sold from carts and small kiosks across Bulgarian towns as a filling, cold-weather pick-me-up.
Why it's made this way: Boza has been drunk across the Balkans and former Ottoman lands for over a thousand years, and its very low alcohol content once let it slip past religious drinking restrictions that governed other beverages of the era.
Roughly what's in it
180kcal
3gprotein
40gcarbs
1gfat
Estimated per typical street-vendor portion — not lab-tested.
More from Bulgaria
Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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