Bulgarian cooking shares Balkan, Ottoman and Slavic roots, built on fresh vegetables, white cheese, yoghurt, grilled meat and herbs. Meals are social, often starting with a salad and a glass of rakia, and lasting for hours.

Salads and starters

  • Shopska salad: tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onion topped with a thick layer of grated sirene, a brined white cheese. Its colours match the Bulgarian flag.
  • Snezhanka ("Snow White"): strained yoghurt with cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts.
  • Lyutenitsa: a spread of roasted peppers and tomatoes, eaten on bread.

Pastries and bread

Banitsa, flaky filo pastry layered with eggs and sirene, is the classic breakfast, often with ayran (a yoghurt drink) or boza (a thick, slightly fermented grain drink). On New Year's Eve, banitsa is baked with lucky charms inside.

Soups and mains

  • Tarator: chilled yoghurt soup with cucumber, dill, garlic and walnuts, ideal in summer.
  • Kebapche and kyufte: grilled minced-meat sausages and patties, served with fries and sirene.
  • Kavarma: meat and vegetables slow-cooked in a clay pot.
  • Sarmi: vine or cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and meat.
  • Gyuvech: a baked vegetable and meat stew named after its clay pot.

Yoghurt

Bulgarians are proud of their yoghurt, made with Lactobacillus bulgaricus, a bacterium identified by Bulgarian scientist Stamen Grigorov in 1905. It is thick, tangy and eaten with almost everything.

Drinks

Rakia, fruit brandy usually made from grapes or plums, is drunk slowly with salad at the start of a meal. Bulgaria also produces wine from local grapes such as Mavrud and Melnik, and the Thracian Valley is a long-established wine region.

Traditions

  • Baba Marta (1 March): people give each other martenitsi, red-and-white yarn bracelets, wishing health. You wear yours until you see a stork, swallow or blossoming tree, then tie it to a branch.
  • Kukeri: in winter, men in huge masks and bells dance to scare away evil spirits, especially around Pernik.
  • Nestinarstvo: in a handful of villages in the Strandzha mountains, dancers walk barefoot on embers on the feast of Saints Constantine and Helena, a UNESCO-listed tradition.
  • Rose Festival: Kazanlak's Valley of Roses produces much of the world's rose oil, celebrated each June.

Etiquette

  • A nod means "no" and a shake of the head means "yes". Many Bulgarians switch to Western gestures with foreigners, which adds to the confusion.
  • Give flowers in odd numbers; even numbers are for funerals.
  • Toast with "Nazdrave!" and look people in the eye.
  • Name days are celebrated like birthdays.
  • Tipping around 10% is customary in restaurants.

See our Bulgaria country guide for living costs.