A Different Kind of European Hospitality

Bulgaria is a country located on the Black Sea, just north of Greece, and south of Romania. While there are plenty of other entries on h2g2 about the country, there are some things that should be known in case you ever travel there, and get invited to someone's home.

Food and Drink

Bulgarian cuisine shares a number of traits with Greek and Turkish. Indeed, a lot of the dishes one can eat there are also found elsewhere in the Balkans. When asked, a native Bulgarian will, in all likelihood, argue that the dish was invented here, and then it migrated to Greece, Turkey and so on. This is the same story you'll hear, e.g. from a Greek, except going the other way.

The difference from Greek cuisine is that Bulgarian tends to be a lot spicier, though not as hot as Turkish. A lot of pork, veal, lamb (beef is almost unknown), wonderful salads. An excellent specialty is a flat, salami-like spicy sausage called Lyukanka.

Bulgaria is definitely a poor country when it comes to cheeses: there are only four basic types of cheese: white and yellow, known respectively as Sirene (pronounced "sih-reh-neh" and not "siren", as in what's on a police car) and Kashkaval. Each of these can be made from cow's or sheep's milk, with the sheep's milk version being a little stronger in taste. Oh, and the yellow cheese can also be smoked. I mean, be had smoked. Not ground up, mixed with tobacco and... never mind.

Why do I mention food before drink? Surely Eastern European countries are famous for apocalyptic drinking?

Well, contrary to popular belief, Bulgarians don't drink anywhere near as much as Russians, Poles, or even Australians. Drinking consists mainly of beer (try the local "Kamenitsa" and "Zagorka" brands - they hold their own against Amstel and Heineken any day), wines (Bulgarian wine is excellent, but little-known outside the country) and, last but by any means not least, Rakiya.

Rakiya is a spirit, usually distilled from grapes, though one can also find it distilled from plums or other fruit. Plum rakiya is considered to be a ladies' drink, whereas the grape rakiya is for anyone. A good rakiya is between 40% and 45% alcohol. Any more, and it's probably something someone distilled in their back yard. Beware!

The best way to drink rakiya is cold. Ice-cold. It is usually consumed at the start of a meal, together with salads, while sitting outside, under a shady tree, parasol, or anything else that will keep the scorching sun off your head.

Drinking distilled spirits on an empty stomach tells you something important about Bulgarians: they like to get in a good mood, quickly. A typical Bulgarian will consume between 100 and 250 grammes of rakiya with his salads. Try that one first time, and you'll probably be the reason why they're in such a good mood...

After salatka i rakiyka (lit.: little salad and little brandy), they will switch to beer or wine with the main courses, and usually stick to beer for the rest of the evening, though the rakiya bottle may make another appearance when coffee is served.

The Hosting Difference

In Western Europe, it is quite acceptable, when one has guests, to say something along the lines of, "[yawn] Guys, it's been really nice having you around, but I have to get up early tomorrow morning," or, "Well, that was the last of that bottle. Oops, I seem to have run out of anything else... Sorry," or even to serve that revolting peppermint liqueur that tastes like mouthwash. Your guests take the hint, thank you for a nice evening, and stagger home.

In Bulgaria, this is unhear-of. Indeed, the mere idea of sending guests away is as shocking to a Bulgarian host as if you had suggested he perform some specific sex act with a small domesticated animal.

A Bulgarian host will sit up with is (or her) guests, and feed them, and serve them drinks, until they leave. If your hosts should run out of wine, for instance, and have only the bottle left that he was saving for his 25th wedding anniversary, he will, without saying a word, serve it. It is a point of honour that a guest's glass is never emtpy.

To avoid getting horribly plastered, the trick is to leave your glass half-full (or half-empty, depending on your outlook). Your host will not refill it. So then, when you're ready to go to bed, you can just gulp it down as you stand up and make your good-byes.

Recommendation for Foreign Guests

Since your host will stay up all night if he has to (i.e. If you don't have the decency to bugger off at some point), it is important that the "[yawn] That was a splendis evening" bit come from you. I know, initially it's fun to see how much rakiya and beer you can drink, and how exhausted you can make your host the next day. However, remember that Bulgaria went through a long, long phase of expoitation and poverty, which it still hasn't fully recovered from. Food and drink used to be scarce, not too long ago, and this is why they are so willingly and generously shared.

Don't abuse this generosity! If you don't seem greedy, your host will be that much more likely to invite you again.

Oh yes, a final note: your host will, when you've indicated that you're replete, offer some more, and insist a little. It is polite to refuse. He will insist again, possibly even suggesting that you didn't like the food. That's okay, it's traditional. When you refuse the second time, he will not insist again. Don't let yourself get embarrassed into accepting against your will, you'll just look greedy...

Well, I hope this has cleared up some points, and will help the prospective traveller behave well in local circumstances when visiting Bulgaria. And it is a beautiful country, full of charming, warm-hearted people, definitely worth a visit!