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BULGARIAN CUISINE
(by Rumi Radenska)
Bulgaria is a relatively old state. It was founded in 7th century a.d. From that time until the 18th century Bulgarian people used to eat the usual for Europeans food: meats, fish, bread, raw fruits and vegetables. By the end of the 18th and especially in the 19th century Bulgarian people developed their specific cuisine.
Basic ingredients in the Bulgarian kitchen are:
1. Meats: pork, beef, lamb, chicken, fish.
2. Dairy products: the main type of milk Bulgarians eat is plain yogurt. They prepare it generally from cow milk, but you can get yogurt made from sheep milk or buffalo-cow milk, which are much more tasty than cow yogurt. Almost everyone in Bulgaria eats yogurt every day - from age of 3 months until his/her death. There are two main kinds of cheese: feta (white cheese) and yellow cheese. Feta is two types: cow feta and sheep feta. Bulgarians prefer to use cow feta in cooking and to eat sheep feta. Yellow cheese is used as in the U.S. You can buy original Bulgarian feta in Mediterranean stores in the U.S.
3. Rice, corn, beans, lentils.
4. Vegetables: potatos, cabbage(green and red), carrots, tomatos, green peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, garlic, zucchini, pumpkin, onions (yellow and green), peas, celery, spinach, cauliflower, lima beans, lettuce, radishes, turnip, gumbo, mushrooms, olives.
5. Fruits: cherries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, apples, peaches, pears, plums, apricots, watermelons, melons, grapes, quinces, medlars.
6. Nuts: peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, chestnuts.
7. Spices: parsley, mint, savory, paprika.
8. Herbs: many different, from thyme to milfoil. They are used in cooking and for herb teas.
All these basic ingredients are grown in Bulgaria.
By the end of the last century Bulgaria extended its economic connections with Middle and West European countries. This way, little by little, people in Bulgaria started to use some common European foods like pasta, mayonnaise, cream, and also some fruits and vegetables which are not grown in the country. Today the Bulgarian cuisine is a mixture of typical Bulgarian courses and common for all world foods.
In the restaurants you may purchase steaks, chops, hamburgers usually roasted, broiled or barbequed with garnish from potatos, beans, salad and Bulgarian type of salsa called luttennitza. In the largest cities of the country there are special restaurants for fried chicken, fish, pizza, spaghetti. In the capital Sofia you can taste in a special restaurants German, Russian, Italian, Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese food. Traveling in the countryside you can always buy near the road 'kebbabchetta' and 'kyuftetta' - Bulgarian barbequed hamburgers with oblong or round shape.
Home cooking is more varying and depends on many factors, but the most important one is the family cooking tradition. For example, I'm still cooking some courses my grandmother used to cook a long time ago. Although Bulgaria is a small country, there is a difference in cooking traditions between its North and South parts.
A distinctive feature of Bulgarian home cooking is that you start with the cooking of the meat and gradually adding all other ingredients. At the end of the cooking you have completely finished the course in one sausepan. This method saves time, especially if you work from scratch.
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