 The ancient Romans often served spiced cakes with aniseed called "" at the end of feasts as a digestive.This tradition of serving cake at the end of festivities is the basis for the tradition of serving cake at weddings.Anise is used to flavor Greek "ouzo"; Italian "sambuca"; Macedonian "mastika"; French "absinthe", "anisette", and "pastis"; Spanish "Anís del Mono", "Anísado" and "Herbs de Majorca"; Turkish and Armenian "rakı"; Lebanese, Egyptian, Syrian, Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian "arak"; and Algerian "Anisette Cristal".