From yogurt soup to flower jam, cornbread covered with melted butter, and crispy feta pastry – Bulgaria is a paradise for the traveling foodie. Check out these local favorite dishes from around the country.
Banitsa
Photo: Petia_is/Shutterstock
No dish represents the warmth and hospitality of we Bulgarians, quite like this buttery, crispy pastry. According to grandmothers around the country, if a girl can’t make banitsa properly, she’ll never make it in life, so I had to take some classes early on. The perfect banitsa has to have a soft and tender inner part with feta cheese melted ever so slightly.
While banitsa is popular nation-wide, the Northwestern Bulgaria region around Vratsa and Vidim is said to be its cradle. There are two types – the round one, where the pieces are woven together and a flat, humble one which aims not to impress with looks but with taste.