Bulgarian food is similar to Turkish and Greek cuisine, with lots of grilled meats and powerful stews; in addition, they have a large choice of salads available, usually based on tomatoes and cucumbers. Feta cheese is prevalent and can be used by a Bulgarian as a topping on virtually any food.

If you do not speak the language or understand the Cyrillic alphabet, a restaurant can still be easily located by looking for the "РЕСТОРАНТ" sign. Figuring out the menu will still be an adventure! In tourist areas you can expect to have an English version of the menu, but sometimes the translation is a bit rough and hard to decipher.

Cheese

In Bulgaria, there are only two native kinds of cheese: the yellow-colored Kashkaval (Кашкавал) - more or less akin to the Dutch Gouda - and the more popular white Sirene (Сирене) - a kind of Feta cheese, similar to Greek Feta in taste. Originally made from sheep milk, it is available from cow or goat milk, or mixed. "Sirene" is also the general word for "cheese" in Bulgarian, so it is used to refer to foreign cheeses too. The word Kashkaval is derived from Caciocavallo, an Italian provolone-style cheese.

The native Bulgarian yoghurt contains Lactobacilicus Bulgaricus, a bacterium which serves as the basis for active culture "plain" yoghurts in other countries. Normally made from cow or sheep milk, it can also be prepared from buffalo milk, with a remarkably stronger taste.

Being a staple, and quite favourite around the country, Bulgarian yoghurt also is an ingredient to many dishes, the most famous one being Tarator (Таратор), a cold soup made from yoghurt, water and cucumbers. A drink called "Ayrian" - a salty yoghurt-water mixture - is also very popular.

Fast-Food

Traditional bakeries prepare different kinds of pastry products. Banitsa and mekitsa are the favorites. Pizza, dyuner (Döner) or hamburgers are also very easy to be found at the streets. There are also many local and international fast-food chains.

Drink

There are more than six hundred mineral water springs around the country, so this is something you'd better taste and drink.

Ayrian (yogurt, water and salt) and boza (millet ale) are two traditional Balkan non-alcoholic beverages.

A powerful (40% vol), clear grape brandy, rakia (Ракия), is the Bulgarian national drink and is served neat, usually at the beginning of a meal with salads. Especially in the smaller cities, some families still distill their rakia at home; it is then usually much stronger (>50% vol).

Another quite popular drink is Mastika (Мастика) (47% vol), a drink closely related to Greek Ouzo and Turkish Raki. It is usually drink with ice, with water in a 1:1 mixture or with peppermint liqueur, called Oblak (cloud).

Bulgaria has several well known local wine varietals. These include Melnik, Mavrud, Pamid, Gamza (Гъмза) (red dry), Kadarka (red sweet) and Keratsuda (white dry).

Local lagers like Zagorka, Kamenitza and Shumensko are very good, inexpensive, widely available and drunk in copious amounts.