Winter Drink · Fermented Millet
Boza
Photo: FoPen / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Vefa Bozacısı still displays a glass that Atatürk is said to have drunk boza from, kept on show behind glass in the shop.
A thick, faintly tangy drink fermented from millet or wheat, boza is served cool in winter, topped with cinnamon and a handful of roasted chickpeas (leblebi) on the side. Vendors still walk Istanbul's streets after dark in winter, calling out for customers the way they have for over a century.
Why it's made this way: Vefa Bozacısı, an Istanbul shop open since 1876, is credited with cementing boza as a Marmara-region winter tradition, and its wandering night vendors became one of the city's most recognizable street-food sounds.
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