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Bulgarian cuisine (Bulgarian: българска кухня, bulgarska kuhnya) is a representative of the cuisine of Southeastern Europe. Essentially South Slavic, it shares characteristics with other Balkans cuisines. Owing to the relatively warm climate and diverse geography affording excellent growth conditions for a variety of vegetables, herbs and fruits, Bulgarian cuisine is diverse.
Famous for its rich salads required at every meal, Bulgarian cuisine is also noted for the diversity and quality of dairy products and the variety of wines and local alcoholic drinks such as rakia, mastika and menta. Bulgarian cuisine features also a variety of hot and cold soups, an example of a cold soup being tarator. There are many different Bulgarian pastries as well such as banitsa.
Most Bulgarian dishes are oven baked, steamed, or in the form of stew. Deep-frying is not very typical, but grilling - especially different kinds of meats - is very common. Pork meat is the most common meat in the Bulgarian cuisine. Some explain this with the fact that during the years of being part of the Ottoman Empire, pigs were the only livestock animals that were not subject to the so-called “natural tax” due to religious reasons. The long time as a part of the Ottoman Empire also explains the oriental influence in Bulgarian cuisine with dishes such as moussaka, gyuvetch, and baklava now being considered very traditional. A very popular ingredient in Bulgarian cuisine is the Bulgarian feta cheese (сирене). It is the main ingredient in many salads, as well as in a variety of pastries.
Certain entries, salads, soups and dishes go well with alcoholic beverages and the alcohol of choice for some is Bulgarian wine.
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Holiday Meals
There are several holidays that are characterized by specific meals. On Christmas Eve, it is a tradition to have vegetarian stuffed peppers and vegetarian stuffed grape leaves. On New Year’s Eve, there are dishes made with cabbage. On Nikulden (Nicholay’s Day; December 6), people usually cook fish, while on Gergyovden (George’s Day; May 6), it is a tradition to eat roast lamb.
Traditional Bulgarian foods
Appetizers
- Turshiya
- Pacha
Soups
- Tarator (cold soup)
- Shkembe chorba (tripe soup)
- Bob chorba (bean soup)
Salads and relishes
- Shopska salad
- Snow White Salad
- Ovcharska salad (shepherd salad)
- Lyutika
- Lyutenitsa
Main dishes
- Moussaka
- Gyuvech
- Sarmi (rolls with grape or cabage leaves)
- Drob Sarma (Lamb liver and lung with rice)
- kebabche
- Kavarma
- Mish-Mash
- Popara (breakfast dish, with bread, milk, and cheese)
- Flat sausages (Soujouk, Lukanka, Babek, Sushenitsa and others)
Breads and pastries
Cheeses
Sweets
- Halva
- Garash cake
- Kadaif
- Tulumbichki - Syruped dessert
- Baklava
- Kozunak
- Kompot
- Mekitsa - Fried dough
Spices and herbs
- Summer savory ("Chubritsa")
- Spearmint (Djodjen or gyozum)
Other staples
Traditional Bulgarian drinks
See also
- European cuisine
- List of cuisines
- Cuisine of the Mediterranean
- Eastern European cuisine
- Macedonian cuisine
External links
- Find Bulgarian food Search engine for Bulgarian cuisine, restaurants and food stores
- European and World Cuisine - Bulgarian cuisine
- Eating the Bulgarian way
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
