Bulgarian cuisine Information & Bulgarian cuisine Links at HealthHaven.com

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.

[edit] 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.