Turkey’s Food Entrepreneurs

In late 2002 I arrived in Istanbul, for what turned out to be an eight-year adventure in that magical city. My first night there, while staying in the hilly Gümüşsuyu neighborhood, I heard the mysterious ringing of a bell followed by a long, one-word call — “booooo-zahhh.” He was a roving street vendor selling boza, a lightly fermented drink made out of millet or other grains, with a consistency somewhere between porridge and runny applesauce. Dating back to Ottoman times (or even earlier) boza quickly goes sour. It is traditionally sold and consumed in the winter, when cooler weather keeps the drink’s fermentation in check.