Food In Bulgaria - World Blog Surf Day

Food In Bulgaria - World Blog Surf DayWell World Blog Surf Day has arrived and the theme is food. This is something that is a passion for many bloggers and I’m sure we’ll get some tasty post surfing around the word today.

I have written many post on food and would have found myself rewriting what I have already covered. With this in mind I have decided to take and extract out of my book that was published recently and use that at the material that basically covers my finding of food in Bulgaria.

(A big thank you to Sher @ http://sheroffthebeatenpath.blogspot.com/ for all her work organising this world blog surf day)


- Living Off the Bulgarian Land -

Food here in Bulgaria is something else — every day a new experience is to be had in Bulgarian cuisine. I must say that it helps tremendously that my partner is Bulgarian and cooks like an angel, but that aside, the Bulgarian friends and neighbours still tickle my taste buds at every opportunity with their own cooking. Since coming here there hasn’t really been any moment where a pang for supermarket branded food has called out. No Twiglets, Mars Bars, baked beans or even sherbet fountains with the liquorice sticking out felt needed or wanted. In fact nowadays the only thing I can remember about these foods is the horrible aftertaste! Those who have been here eating natural Bulgarian food for long enough will know exactly what I mean.

Food In Bulgaria - World Blog Surf DayEvery few weeks someone asks, ‘I’m coming over, what would you like me to bring for you?’ It is very difficult to think of anything, even after really thinking hard. So these kind people usually bring over some English teabags, Cadbury’s creme eggs or a bottle of whisky; many thanks guys, and I mean this most sincerely, but these are then actually used for English guests that come round, so very useful anyway. This is not being ungracious, but just speaking truthfully about how things are now.

Food In Bulgaria - World Blog Surf DayHere in Bulgaria, most produce comes straight out of the village homes, most of which are not just homes but smallholdings. Food comes from a variety of sources, mainly grown from the rich, dark, fertile land. This produce also feeds chickens, cows and calves, goats and sheep, ducks and geese, rabbits and peafowl, to name a few. Back in the village of Skalitsa where I live, there is no need for supermarket shopping. Occasionally food is bought from the supermarket, more out of habit if I happen to be in town, but usually from my local village shop that provides everything I need: bread and flour (both made and milled in my village), sunflower oil (locally produced), salt and sugar. Local honey is more often used for sweetening than sugar. Filo pastry is also sometimes bought for the homemade banitsas — the recipe for the unique Skalitsa banitsa is further on in the book, but there are other pastry variations of the banitsa throughout Bulgaria. Last but not least, beer: making your own beer is not entertained, as it would never touch the quality that the Belgian brewery owners achieve here. You just can’t improve on perfect beer.

Food In Bulgaria - World Blog Surf DayI can’t say there is much else needed. As much wine, rakia and liqueur as I could ever wish for is all locally produced in the village or on my own farm. Sunflower seeds are gathered from the field adjoining my land, and as long as it is for personal consumption there is no problem with this; in fact, the mice in the field eat more than any villager. They are dried (some salted) and stored in airtight, recycled plastic food boxes. Chickpeas are grown and stored in the same way; sweetcorn is grown or again taken in from fields and dried (but not used for animal feed — that wouldn’t be right if taken from the co-operative fields) and fried in oil to make popcorn: another treat from the garden, flavoured either with honey or salt before popping. So there’s your little variety of snacks to accompany your drinks.

Food In Bulgaria - World Blog Surf DayAll the cheeses and yoghurts are homemade. All from natural ingredients. Walnuts are gathered and keep for up to a year for use in cooking. Walnuts baked in honey are another Bulgarian food legend, and also used as another accompaniment to drinks. Almonds are harvested, with shells you can remove without nutcrackers; ever tried that with a supermarket almond? Fresh figs are preserved in syrup. There are melons galore, both the honeydew and water type; the latter makes a marvellous jam to be eaten all year round. Strawberry jam used for cakes and for milkshakes is a summer taste second to none. Apples, pears and sliva can all be stored in boxes or bottled in syrup and kept for up to six months. My last apple, eaten in April this year, was almost as good as it would have been picked in October the year before. And it was sweet and tasted like an apple!

On occasion non-Bulgarian guests visit and sometimes turn their nose up at some of the food offered because it’s not like the food they’re used to buying in shops. You may well be surprised at how many say that! This is the only other reason that supermarkets are frequented, to cater for the need of these occasions. No offence is taken at this point; it’s not their fault, it’s the system they have grown to rely on. All the produce that is not in season has been either frozen or bottled, and supplies take us through the winter and spring. This is not a chore — the garlic and onions are plaited and the tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and pumpkins boiled for bottling on the outside wood-burning contraption. Everything is done slowly and very systematically. When it comes to doing anything like this in village life there is never any panic or rush with the long day ahead. Why do we, on the other hand, still try and hurry things to get them done as quickly as possible all the time?


Food In Bulgaria - World Blog Surf DayWith all this food to hand, including most meats and a range of poultry and dairy products, you can make anything you want from the ingredients. Even beef can be grown, bought or bartered for in the village. Everything and more is grown here compared to the UK. So what’s the problem there? Nothing, it would seem — the problem in the UK for many is the culture of buying convenience food rather than growing your own. How many have a garden where produce can be grown? Most people. The climate here helps a lot, but what makes it work here is the way of life and the homegrown food culture, which left the UK some 40-50 years ago. You come to Bulgaria and take a big step back in time. I’m always amazed at how the simplest ingredients can turn out to be another memorable meal. Just a sliced young marrow fresh from the garden, dipped in flour and fried until brown, then served hot topped with homemade yoghurt. It was that simple, but the result was something very special. Everyday another taste or recipe is laid out and enjoyed; it really is going back to basic ingredients and enjoying them for what they are. How often is this forgotten, bowing to commercially processed foods made for you from a point of ease and laziness? For convenience, the process squeezes out the taste of natural foods with chemically enhanced products as the replacement, and this becomes the ‘taste of the norm’ for the weekly consumers. Food regulations introduced is understandable to protect health, but it has gone to extremes and the very chemicals that are meant to protect such as preservatives, flavour enhancements and added colouring, etc. is just as bad if not worse for our long term health.

It is quite strange that most village folk don’t have a choice of shopping for food over growing their own food; they simply can’t afford it. If they could afford to and had a choice the convenience foods are there, waiting in the wings, ready to pounce for profits, which is the name of the game. The new generation of Bulgarians is making its way to becoming part of the American and Euro fast food brigade. The traditional horticultural activities carried out in villages throughout Bulgaria may end up being restricted to commercial dimensions, as they were in the UK so many years ago. I am grateful and privileged to have the opportunity to experience Bulgaria as it is now.

There’s one old wives tale that I continually hear, concerning eggs. The chickens I keep are totally free range, with access to all-natural food in the big yard and greenery from the waste organic vegetation, and a supplement of natural wheat to call them home in the evening. Nothing could be more free range than these chickens. So when someone says, ‘Oh, I tried some free range eggs and the colour of the yolk was so deep in colour, it was orange,’ I’m a little dubious. Do you have a picture of this apparently fresh free-range egg now revealing its sensuous lush orange yolk, just waiting to melt in the mouth after being lightly fried in a little oil and laid on a bed of the softest white buttered bread you could imagine? Looks good? Tastes good? Doubt it! This is not true; the colour of free-range eggs is usually just plain yellow at best. Battery and commercial egg producers (other than the chickens themselves, of course) use colour additives in the feed to produce a more deeply-coloured yolk, which is what the consumer wants and gets — supply and demand. So the chicken may be described as free-range but what are they given to eat? Market research has found that the yellow yolk doesn’t sell as well as the darker orange-tinted colour. Next time you go to a town supermarket and buy eggs, even so-called free-range ones, see how orange the yolk is; you know why now.

Food In Bulgaria - World Blog Surf DayI am still a lifetime away from getting my produce up to the standard of my Bulgarian neighbours: the learning goes on all the time. It is clear that the attitude to food in the UK is that convenience food rules. This is not from the point of choice, many just don’t get the choice with their hectic work related lifestyle and a bygone age of daily family table meals. Even if home cooking does happen, ingredients that are used are sourced from supermarkets and also grown in a rush, furthermore hardly ever locally produced and only remains fresh from preservative processes. The difference here in Bulgaria is the food is local, fresh. Along with the culture, the climate, the slow pace of life that been inbred over many generations, you will find that the food grows faster than the pace of life.

Sourced from "Simple Treasures In Bulgaria"
Copyright © Martin Miller-Yianni
ISBN 978-0-9559849-0-7
www.amazon.co.uk



Your next port of call is now at http://vedatc.blogspot.com/ Vedat has been living in Turkey from birth (1988). Now, he is living in Poland studying at Lazarski University as an exchange student. In his own words he, "Loves writing in blogs!" It should be an eye opener to many who read it.

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Anastasia Ashman is an American cultural producer based in Istanbul, and is a creator of Expat Harem, the anthology by foregin women about modern Turkey. Her Tweetstream focuses on women, travel and history and she shares resources for writers/travelers, expats, Turkophiles & culturati of all stripes. There is an open invite to follow her on twitter. Her account is: Thandelike
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30 comments:

  1. Martin, hope this post gets thru, tryed a couple times and could not , also on my end the last post tierd man on Sunday was like a post on top of another post and I could not read and the comment section covered the post half way , I don't know what was the problen , soooo much enjoyed this post from you book , you have a good way of explaining things and always injecting your thoughts at the same time , and just like over there the growing and harvesting time for the gardens is here in our little town and there is soooo much fresh veggies around that the neighbors run when they see you coming ,as they think you are bring more veggies to give them , when they to have a over abundance and are trying to give theirs away too . ha ha , I like it as I don't have to make as many trips to the market someone is always dropping by with something fresh to make a meal from.don't work to hard and I could'nt help but notice the picture of my friend in the hot sun with NO HAT take care and give Galia a big hello from your friends Malcolm and Ciejay Malcolm

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  2. Hi Martin,
    Great and interesting post as always! You really have me hungry after reading about the home-grown, home-cooked food! I'm so envious! It would be great to have a garden/land on which to grow our own food. This is very labor-intensive work, I know, but it seems would be healthier food than we can buy in the stores.

    Have a great day!
    Sher :0)

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  3. Romancing Italy13 June 2009 at 11:51

    Come to think of it, you've been blogging about food for a while now...your world is involved in the cultivation of food. Awesome. You still working out in 30+ degree weather?

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  4. Hi Martin

    Congratulations on the publication of your book! It's great that the Bulgarians grow so much of their own food and don't rely on convenience food (which doesn't taste very good anyway!)

    Sorry I haven't visited your blog recently. I've had terrible trouble with Internet Explorer not loading many blogs properly, including yours, so I've now installed Firefox and it seems to be working fine!

    Best wishes,

    Roz

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  5. Interesting point of view how the home grown cooking is still the main source for cooking in Bulgaria. In Thailand, where I live, my wife also grows lots of stuff in our garden and we eat it but it's limited compared to the Bulgarian way. Not necessarily a bad way!

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  6. How cool that Bulgarians are so self-efficient with their produce. I never been to Bulgaria, but got pretty close when visiting Croatia in the 90s. That's where I had my first rakia :o)

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  7. Hi Martin,
    Are you interested in writing reports about Bulgaria--economy, expat life, etc? I have a company I worked for the beginning of the year that is looking for an expat in Bulgaria to write this. If you're interested, please send me an email and I'll forward the info to you! They were nice to work with--all done via email...no phone calls, etc.

    Have a great day,
    Sher :0)

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  8. Wow, slow food in opposite to fast food. I really would like it! Are the field mice also free range and organic in your neck of the wood? ;-) Oscar, the Expat Cat

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  9. Thank you for this thought-provoking post, Martin.
    I particularly liked your point about doing things in a slow but systematic way, as opposed to rushing through life... for the sake of what?

    Congratulations on the publication of your book!

    Emmanuelle

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  10. Back to organic food Martin, good!
    Istanbul left that all behind, and many vegetables are thereforehere full with pestocides, so you have to find the good shops.
    Good luck with y book!
    Kindest
    hans

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  11. very interesting. I was hooked reading this post. I guess for many of us the convenience and search for the perfect looking food takes priority over homegrown food.
    But I know enjoying homegrown food takes patience and a lot of effort too.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Martin In Bulgaria15 June 2009 at 10:23

    Kind words as always Malcolm, you have a great setup there in Thailand. Take it easy. Martin and Galia

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  13. Martin In Bulgaria15 June 2009 at 10:23

    One day Sher, one day!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Martin In Bulgaria15 June 2009 at 10:27

    Hi Bev, Yep! I've certainly gained a dark suntan now.

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  15. Martin In Bulgaria15 June 2009 at 10:31

    Hi Roz,

    Good to hear from you. No problem, I myself have been neglecting visiting blogs due to lack to time. Glad you got your browser sorted, I'm having great problems with Firefox which has cost me many hours of time, exploerer is worse though.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Martin In Bulgaria15 June 2009 at 10:36

    Hi Camilla,
    It is the main source of food in Bulgarian villages, not in towns and cities I must point out. You have a perfect growing environment in Thailand it seems and glad you wife is making use fo that.

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  17. Martin In Bulgaria15 June 2009 at 10:38

    Rakia eh! Good stuff if you found a good sample.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Martin In Bulgaria15 June 2009 at 10:44

    Email sent

    ReplyDelete
  19. Martin In Bulgaria15 June 2009 at 10:46

    Hi Oscar, Moles seem to be the favourtie food of cats in the fields.

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  20. Martin In Bulgaria15 June 2009 at 10:48

    Thanks Emanuelle. It is very difficult to slow down here myself, evertygihing seems to be in slow motion.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Martin In Bulgaria15 June 2009 at 10:50

    Hi Hans,

    Hope you are keeping well.

    I didn't see you in Yambol during May, do you still have plans to visit?

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  22. Martin In Bulgaria15 June 2009 at 10:53

    Hi Lina,
    Yes patience and a lot of effort, but that bring about appreciation of good tasting food, not just how it looks like you say.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Mark @ TravelWonders18 June 2009 at 01:42

    I hadn't heard about orange yolks. While there is lots of typical debate about barn egss and cage eggs and free-range eggs in Australia, I don't think they make the yolks orange and I'm not sure I'd eat a deep yellow or orange yolks anyway - it sounds less appealing to me anyway.

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  24. Do you find growing your own food to be more expensive than buying?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Martin In Bulgaria19 June 2009 at 10:49

    Hi Mark,
    People are too trusting of factory produced produce.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Martin In Bulgaria19 June 2009 at 10:52

    Strange question! It costs nothing to grow your own produce other than time, effort and water. Preserving perhaps with added costs of salt vinegar and heating. Nominal costs.

    ReplyDelete
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