Bulgarian cuisine is not very popular in Poland. There are, however, Bulgarian restaurants where you can taste some traditional Bulgarian dishes. A wide variety of cookbooks with recipes from this part of Europe is available in bookstores. Bulgarian cuisine is tasty and extremely diverse, full of delicacies regardless of the time of year. Vegetables of various sorts ahead with tomatoes dominate and large amounts of garlic, spicy pepper and other spices are used for spicing up the dishes. Bulgarian cuisine is also perfect for those who enjoy light diets rich in vegetables and is actually very much different from what we think we know. Because of the influences [Byzantine, Turkish, Greek, German] the cuisine adopted and adjusted many foreign ways of cooking and dishes to local tastes.
 
Yoghurt is an inseparable part of the culinary Bulgaria. Its unique taste is given by unique bacteria – Lactobacillus bulgaricus. There are various types of yoghurt: made of sheep’s milk, cow’s milk and mixed.
 
The so-called chorbas, gyuvetches and musakas are the basis of Bulgarian menu. Czorbas are the bases of Old-Bulgarian cuisine. These are thick, spicy soups served hot or cold. Gyuvetches are meat dishes made of young fat meat and that is why no fat is further added while cooking. Musaka – a type of casserole - is probably the most delicious dish. Its preparation is a bit time consuming – first, you stew the vegetables in a small amount of water, then you slice them and put in a pan in layers, with rice separating each layer of vegetables. Then you pour the stock and bake. Next, you beat eggs with milk and pour over the musakas just before taking them out from the oven, to form a crunchy crust. Skara is a type of grill and grilling is the most popular way of doing up all types of meat.
 
Eating is a social thing. Lunches and dinners are eaten collectively, not only in family circles. Thus, the whole process can be very long. It is said that a Bulgarian likes to devour. Bulgarians have a Mediterranean temper, thus appreciate good food, and drink in good company.
 
Bulgarians eat buns for breakfast and drink sour milk, or have various types of cheeses, cold meats and olives. Oftentimes they just have black coffee and a quick snack. For lunch, they have something spicy – small sausages called kebabcheta, with vegetable salads and a slice of soft white bread [made of corn and wheat flour].
 
Evening meals, the largest meal of the day, is a so-called one-pot dish. Various vegetables are added to meat – the sort of vegetables depends on the time of year. Lunch usually begins with a fresh salad. Shopska salad is no doubt the most famous Bulgarian dish. It consists of feta cheese [which has nothing to do with the feta cheese available in our stores] called ‘bialo sirene’ or ‘sirene’, which means ‘cheese’ in Bulgarian. This type of cheese is very popular here. It is added to shopska salad, banitsa, chushka biurek or sirene po trakiyski – sirene is literally everywhere. Tourist may find it surprising that it is also added to French fries. A glass of rakiya is an obligatory appetizer. Then chorba is served. The main dish - called manja, is usually served with wine. The feast ends with a dessert. It is usually a piece of cake dripped in extremely sweet syrup [baklava, triguna, kadaif]. After dinner, the Bulgarians go to a café where – apart from alcohol – they drink specifically made coffee - it is boiled with sugar but never to the boiling point. It can be drunk when the melted sugar appears on the surface.
 

VIEW MOVIE 1		VIEW MOVIE 2