Cuisine of Bulgaria

Bulgarian cuisine ( _bg. българска кухня, "bulgarska kuhnya") is a representative of the cuisine of Southeastern Europe. Essentially South Slavic, it shows Turkish, Greek and Middle Eastern influences, and to a lesser extent Armenian, Italian, Mediterranean and Hungarian ones. Owing to the relatively warm climate and diverse geography affording excellent growth conditions for a variety of vegetables, herbs and fruits, Bulgarian cuisine is particularly 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.

Certain entries, salads, soups and dishes go well with alcoholic beverages and the alcohol of choice for some is Bulgarian wine.

Traditional Bulgarian foods

Appetizers

* Turshiya

oups

* Tarator (cold soup)
* Shkembe chorba (tripe soup)
* Pacha
* Bob chorba (bean soup)

alads and relishes

* Shopska salad
* Snow White Salad
* Ovcharska salad (shepherd salad)
* Lyutika
* Lyutenitsa

Main dishes

* Moussaka
*
* Sarmi (rolls with grape or cabage leaves)
* Drob Sarma Lamb liver and lung with rice
* kebabche
* Kavarma
* Mish-Mash
* Elenski but
* Popara (breakfast dish, with bread, milk, and cheese)
* Flat sausages (Soujouk, Lukanka, Babek, Sushenitsa and others)

Breads and pastries

* Pita Bread
* Banitsa
** Tikvenik (pumpkin banitsa)

Cheeses

* Sirene (white brined cheese)
* Kashkaval (yellow cheese)

weets

* Halva
* Garash cake
* Kadaif
* Tolumbichki - Syruped dessert
* Baklava
* Kozunak
* Kompot

pices and herbs

*Merudia
*Summer savory ("Chubritsa")
*Spearmint (Djodjen or gyozum)
*Samardala

Other staples

* Yogurt ("Kiselo Mlyako", lit. sour milk)
* Honey

Traditional Bulgarian drinks

* Bulgarian wine
** Mavrud
** Pamid
** Gamza
** Melnik wine
** Dimyat
** Misket
** Muskat
** Pelin
* Rakia
** Grape Rakia
** Plum Rakia
** Apricot Rakia
* Mastica
* Menta
* Beer
**Almus
**Ariana
**Astika
**Boliarka
**Burgasko
**Kamenitza
**Ledenika
**MM
**Pirinsko
**Plevensko
**Shumensko
**Slavena
**Stolichno
**Zagorka
* Boza
* Ayran
* Mineral water
**Bankya
**Devin
**Gorna Banya
**Hissar

ee also

*
* Cuisine of the Mediterranean
* Eastern European cuisine
* Macedonian cuisine

External links

* [http://www.findbgfood.com/ Find Bulgarian food] Search engine for Bulgarian cuisine, restaurants and food stores
* [http://www.bulgarian-guide.com/bulgarian-cuisine/ Bulgarian Cuisine]
* [http://bulgarian-food.com/ Bulgarian Food and Drinks] - Recipes and information about traditional Bulgarian meals and drinks
* [http://www.cuisineeurope.com/recipes_bulgaria/main_recipes_bulgaria_en.html European and World Cuisine] - Bulgarian cuisine
* [http://www.questbg.com/recipes.html Quest Bulgaria Recipe Book] - 16 Traditional Bulgarian recipes with high quality photographs to download
* [http://www.bulgariainfo-online.com/Site/Babaskitchen.pdf Bulgaria Info-Online Free Recipe Book] A small PDF file with some traditional Bulgarian recipes.
* [http://www.bulgarianbeer.com/ Bulgarian Beers]
* [http://www.bulgarianwine.com/ Bulgarian Wines]
* [http://www.cp-pc.ca/english/bulgaria/eating.html Eating the Bulgarian way]