Cuisine
'The food
was great - fresh, simple and strong ...'
To read this Personal Story, click here.
Bulgarian cuisine is one of the tastiest
in Europe. Food is still cooked with fresh, naturally grown
ingredients. It combines
the wonderfully rich Ottoman influence with a peasant cooking
style that uses flavour-packed vegetables and herbs. Yum! Start
with a salad of fresh tomatoes and home-made sheep's
cheese. Follow up with a slow-baked stew in a clay pot and
you're in heaven. There are plenty of non-meat dishes too.
Bulgaria excels in 'sirene' (a white salty
cheese) and yoghurt. The yoghurt
is so good and
so distinctive that it's exported world wide simply as
'Bulgarian Yoghurt'. 'Sirene' is an ingredient
for two unmissable specialities. Try them. Number one is Shopska
salad,
made with chopped tomatoes, cucumber, peppers and onion. Number
two is 'banitsa', a savoury flaky pastry that every Bulgarian
grabs with a coffee at street stands.
Meat lovers? The main dishes are
chicken, pork and lamb-based - typically
hearty, simple and tasty. Grilled meats are popular and include
'kyufteta' (spicy meat balls), and 'kebapcheta' (elongated
meat balls). 'Chushki byurek' - peppers stuffed with cheese
and herbs and fried in breadcrumbs - are a great entrée
or a meal in a moment.
See also Eating Out
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