by Rositsa Kuneva

Near the Danube and on the coasts of Black and White Seas by a very old tradition on “Nikulden”, “Blagovetz” and “Velikden”(Easter) is made the obligatory food “ribnik”-fish baked in dough or “bulgur”(rice).

In many mountain regions beetroot is prepared in a special way and it is not an everyday food. In most of the villages in Southwestern and Eastern Bulgaria in every house on ”Surva“(New Year), “Todorovden”, and “Blagovets” is cooked beetroot, with meat or meatless. On most of the holidays in January and February people in "Blagoevgrad" and “Kjustendil” (towns in Bulgaria) eat beetroot.

On ”Surva“, “Nikulden”, Christmas Eve, “Zagovezni”, “Todorovden”, “Dimitrovden” beans are prepared, without thickening, while the beans used in the everyday meal are fried.

By the 30s of 20th century on weddings, funerals and christenings were prepared two meals - meatless “bulgur” and beans, cooked only in water without any vegetables and oil. Then people started preparing “kurban”- mutton boiled in water and “bulgur” added.

The food made on holidays is different from everyday food- it is prepared in a special way.

Food and its habits have a social function. They are bound up with the social relationship between people and their discrimination.

Even the prohibition of eating meat on some holidays or restricting the common eating of all members of the family, have an important function connected with the social relationship.

Food’s integrating function is emphasized on the common feasts of the whole village, where ” the souls of all villagers come together, everyone should apologize for whatever bad thing he had done to his neighbor ”.

The social character of food is emphasized on at common “kurbans”, made for fertility and health, against disasters and epidemics. On such meetings people not only come together to enjoy the food, but take important decisions and solve common problems. Such gatherings were used not only for connecting people, but also for connecting them and their God- sacrifices were made. And that old tradition is still alive in the mountain villages in Western, Southwestern and Southeastern Bulgaria.

A survey of the traditional food and habits of the Bulgarians in different parts of the country shows that all of them have the common base and character. Bulgarian food has distinctive characteristics for each of the three ethnical groups that have formed the Bulgarian nationality. And important is the fact that by the 19th century the national food is almost a united whole (ingredients and technology of preparing it) for towns and villages.

There are some slight differences in the food between the people in the planes and the mountain regions. In planes the use of vegetable predominates, pulse and products made from dough. In the mountain regions, by contrast, mainly milk, dairy foods and meat are consumed.

In the mountains in Western, Southwestern and Southeastern Bulgaria people have kept some traditional elements from the Old Bulgarian cuisine (like cooking without frying).

During the 17th century new cultures penetrated into the Bulgarian cuisine, which enriched it. Then with the developing of the capitalistic relationships a distinction between the village and town food was made, without being fully discriminated. The village food has kept traditions and characteristics of the Old Bulgarian cuisine, while the town food is slightly different after the influence of new cultures.

In the food and its habits of Bulgarian people there is a strong social distinction by the socialistic revolution. Rich people eat often meat and cook with butter; the middle villagers consume meat in winter and on holidays, while poor people eat almost without meat.

But in the conditions of the socialistic society it is the base in forming the contemporary eating habits.

It is a fact that during the last few years the society shows a bigger interest of the traditional Bulgarian food.