Boyoz is a pastry of

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

origin, associated with

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, Turkey, which is practically the only city where it is prepared for commercial purposes and follows the original recipe. As such, in the eyes of Smyrniots boyoz became a symbol of their hometown or their longing for it when away. The most widely preferred boyoz is plain, without the addition of meat or cheese or spinach stuffings, and as cooked by a handful of master boyoz bakers in İzmir. Boyoz paste is a mixture of

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

sunflower oil Sunflower oil is the non-volatile oil pressed from the seeds of the sunflower (''Helianthus annuus''). Sunflower oil is commonly used in food as a frying oil, and in cosmetic formulations as an emollient. Sunflower oil is primarily compos ...

, and a small amount of

tahini Tahini () (, or in Iraq: (rashi-راشي)) is a Middle Eastern condiment (a seed butter) made from ground sesame seeds. The most common variety comes from hulled seeds, but unhulled ones can also be used; the latter variety is slightly bitter, ...

. It is kneaded by hand, and the ball of paste is left to rest for two hours. The paste is then flattened to the width of a dish and left to rest again. It is then kneaded and opened once more, before being formed into a roll and left to repose as such for a further period of several hours. When the tissue of the paste is still soft but about to detach into pieces, it is cut into small balls and put in rows of small pans and marinated in vegetable oil between half an hour and one hour. The paste then takes an oval form and acquires the consistency of a millefeuille. The small balls can then be put on a tray in a very high-temperature oven either in plain form or with fillings of cheese or spinach added inside. The usual accompaniments for boyoz are dark tea and hard-boiled eggs generously sprinkled with

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...

. Boyoz is generally consumed outdoors, and purchased from street vendors.

Origin

Virtually all sources agree on the

Judeo-Spanish Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew script: ), also known as Ladino or Judezmo or Spaniolit, is a Romance language derived from Castilian Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain, and then after the Edict of Expulsion spreading ...

roots of boyoz. It is a contribution to İzmir's urban culture by

Sephardic Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

who were ethnically cleansed from Spain after 1492 and who settled in large numbers in several prominent Ottoman cities of the period, among which İzmir stood out as one of the primary destinations. These explanations on the roots of boyoz are confirmed by the presence of a very similar pastry in the culinary traditions of such other offshoots of

Spanish culture The culture of Spain is influenced by its Western world, Western origin, its interaction with other cultures in Europe, its historically Catholic Church in Spain, Catholic religious tradition, and the varied national and regional identity in Sp ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, where '' bollos'' are common especially in the diet of Sephardic Jews, usually with cheese and spinach fillings. In Renaissance

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and the Ladino language, ''bollos'' means "a bundle, a pack". Until recently, all master bakers who prepared boyoz in İzmir were Jewish, and the present masters have all been trained by Avram Usta, whose name is echoed to this day in the commercial slogans adopted by some of these bakers, who market the "Boyoz of Avram Usta"."Usta" is a Turkish word, very similar in its sense to the French word "maître" although its scope of use is wider, and it is a

vocative In grammar, the vocative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed or occasionally for the noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and numeral ...

, usually added after the first name, to denote a master of any craft or trade.

Citations

General and cited sources

Trademark Tastes of Izmir
{{Pastries İzmir Jewish baked goods Jewish cuisine Sephardi Jewish cuisine Jews and Judaism in İzmir Turkish pastries Turkish words and phrases

Origin

See also

Citations

General and cited sources