Bulgarian Cuisine
Bulgarian Cookery 
From its ancient Thracian roots, and with a liberal sprinkling of other Slavic, Mediterranean and Balkan influences, Bulgarian cuisine has developed its own characteristic features. Bulgarian cookery uses a wide variety of different products, which have been traditionally determined by seasonal, climatic and regional factors. One of the main features of Bulgarian cuisine is the use of fresh seasonal food, including nettles, dock leaves, sorrel and spinach in spring, tomatoes and cucumbers during the summer, and peppers and pumpkins in the autumn. Herbs and other aromatic seasonings are also very typical of Bulgarian cuisine, in particular parsley, dill, mint and winter savory. Other fundamental ingredients of many traditional Bulgarian meals and dishes are dairy products, in particular white cheese (sirene) and yoghurt (kiselo mlyako). |
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Bulgarian Salads 
No Bulgarian meal is complete without some sort of salad. The most typical Bulgarian salad is the shopska salata made, in its most basic form, from chopped tomatoes and cucumbers and sprinkled with grated white cheese (sirene). Another very popular salad in Bulgaria is the shepherd’s salad which again has chopped tomatoes and cucumbers as its foundation, but then is typically enhanced with sweetcorn, mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs and diced ham. Again it is sprinkled with wihite cheese (sirene) and sometimes cubes of yellow cheese (kashkaval) as well. The result can be a substantial salad that is almost a meal in itself. For something completely different, try kyopolu, a plae of pureed baked aubergine and peppers flavoured with garlic. |
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Bulgarian Soups 
Soups have always been a staple of Bulgarian village cookery. Vegetable soups (zelenchukova supa) occurs in all manner of forms, as does mushroom soup (gubena supa) although most delicious are those made using full-flavoured forest mushrooms such. In spring, nettles were another wild food frequently made into soup. Traditional bean soup (bob chorba) also occurs throughout the country, and was a staple in the Bulgarian monasteries. However, the most famous version smilyanski fasul comes from the village of Smilyan in the southernmost part of the Rodopi (Rhodope) Mountains. The Black Sea coastal town of Nesebur (Nessebar) is famous for its fish soup which uses a combination at least four or five different types of fish, whilst mussel soup is traditionally popular in Sozopol. Tripe soup (shkembe chorba) is served all over Bulgaria, but is something you either love or hate! The same is also true for cold yoghurt and cucumber soup (tarator), a very popular addition to Bulgarian menus during the hot summer months.
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Vegetarian Dishes in Bulgaria 
Not surprisingly, with its abundance of fresh vegetables, Bulgaria has a very good vegetarian cuisine, although the widespread addition of dairy products to many dishes makes things much more difficult for vegans. Very typical vegetarian dishes are made from vegetables such as peppers, aubergines and marrows stuffed with cheese. There are numerous regional stews made from different combinations of vegetables, often baked in the oven in earthenware bowls. There is also a very popular dish known as sirene po shopski which is basicly white cheese, tomato and egg baked in a pot. The Rodopi (Rhodope) Mountains offers several very traditional local vegetarian dishes. These include rodopski klin which is a mixture of rice and white cheese enclosed in filo pastry, and patanik, a simple yet delicious dish made from grated potatoes.
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Meat Dishes in Bulgaria 
Most Bulgarians enjoy eating meat, though the amount of meat dishes that are eaten tends to vary from region to region. Bansko region is particularly renowned for its hearty, some may say heavy, traditional meat dishes, including specialities such as kapama, a complex stew typically made from a mixture of veal, pork and chicken. Another Bansko speciality is chomlek, traditionally made from veal, potatoe and onions. A more common meat dish which is found throughout the country is a meat and vegetable stew known as kavarma. This can occur in various forms depending upon the region. Also very common and popular are the Bulgarian equivalent of burgers which come shaped ball-shaped (kyufteta) or sausage-shaped (kebapcheta). Game such as hare, venison and wild boar can occasionally be found on some menus. Mention must also be made to chevermeta, the traditional spit-roast lambs that are such a feature of festivals and other gatherings in the Rodopi (Rhodope) Mountains.
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Breads, Pastries and Pancakes 
Bulgarians love breads and pastries, in particular their cheese pastry (banitsa) which is made from layers of filo pastry interspersed with a mixture of yoghurt and white cheese. Sometimes other ingredients such as spinach are added to the mix. Bulgarians have there own type of plain donuts known as mekitsi, and also a croissant equivalent known as kifli, which are usually filled with chocolate or jam. Baklava made with honey and walnuts, is a very popular desert in Bulgaria. In autumn, one can also try tikvanik, a type of pumpkin strudel. In the Rodopi (Rhodope) Mountains the inhabitants traditionally make marudnitsi and katmi, very thick and filling types of pancakes.
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Bulgarian Yoghurt 
No description of the Bulgarian cuisine would be complete without mentioning the famous Bulgarian yoghurt (kiselo mlyako). In the early 1900s, a Russsian scientist Ilya Mechnikov, who worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, made a study of longevity statistics from 36 countries, and discovered that there were more centenarians in Bulgaria than any other country. He went on to attribute this to the Bulgarian home-made yoghurt which has always been such a staple part of the everyday Bulgarian diet. Indeed, according to many historians, it is believed that yoghurt was an important food item in Bulgaria lands as far back as Thracian times.
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