Bulgaria’s Turkic vanquishers, the Ottomans, had been driven out of their own homeland by the Mongolian Tartars. En route to refuge in Asia Minor, the Turks were converted to Islam. Once they had swept Byzantium into their possession in 1453, adopting Constantinople as their capital, they gained a foothold in the rest of the Balkans. The remnants of the Ottoman Empire are all but invisible. Mosques stud the skyline. Gypsies pass under Turkish surnames. Bulgarian converts to Islam—Pomàks—still subside in pockets around the country. The street language and jargon borrow heavily from the Turkish language—such as haide—and traditional styles of music, dance, and dress have close ties with Turkey.
The most prominent of influences may well be the Turkish food, which can be found in every corner of the Balkans. Turkish coffee is steeped in the grains and sipped therewith. Shish kebobs, Turkish delights (jelly candies), and halvah (sesame paste candy) are promoted as local treats.
