Shamishi was named as the “worst-rated” Cypriot food by users of popular gastronomic tourism website Taste Atlas.

The dessert was given an average of just 3.2 stars by the website’s users, making it concurrently the 15th-worst rated pastry in the world.

Despite its low score, Taste Atlas described shamishi as “a popular Cypriot dessert consisting of fried pastry dough that is filled with sweet semolina paste”.

“These treats are additionally flavoured with cinnamon and orange blossom water and are traditionally sprinkled with powdered sugar,” it added.

It said shamishi “can be found at various Cypriot fairs and festivals throughout the year”.

It also pointed out that the word shamishi comes from the Turkish for “work of Damascus”, with it being believed that shamishi was first brought to Cyprus by Anatolian Turks while the island was ruled by the Ottoman Empire.

The second worst-rated Cypriot food was spoon sweets, known as glyko tou koutaliou in Greek and macun in Turkish.

The sweets scored just 3.5 stars, but Taste Atlas described them as “a sign of hospitality”.

It explained that the sweets are made by placing fruits, nuts and vegetables in sugar syrup, and are known as spoon sweets because the standard serving portion is a well-filled teaspoon.

In third and fourth position were loukoumi Yeroskipou and shoushoukkos, known as lokum and uzum sucugu respectively in Turkish, with the former described as “a type of flavored rahat lokum which is made from sugar within the boundaries of Yeroskipou” coated in powdered sugar or shredded coconut, and the latter likened to Georgian sausage-shaped sweet churchkela.

The lowest-ranking non-dessert item was Turkish Cypriot staple magarina bulli, which is made up of chicken, pasta, and shredded halloumi.

Bourekia, known as borek in Turkish, ranked in sixth, and were described as “small, semicircular pastries which come in sweet or savoury versions and are typically deep fried in oil until golden brown”.

In seventh place was the flaouna, a pastry eaten by Greek Cypriots around Easter, and eaten all year round and known as pilavuna in Turkish. It contains flour, eggs, sugar, butter, yeast, water, salt, cheese and sometimes raisins.

Rounding off the list of shame is the bean soup known as fasolada in Greek and kuru fasulye in Turkish.

Taste Atlas described it as a soup “made from dried white beans that are drizzled with olive oil and eaten with various vegetables and herbs such as onions, celery, and tomatoes”.

“The dish is nutritious and reminiscent of antiquity, as barley, olives, and beans were the three crops that sustained the armies of Alexander the Great,” it added.