We've self-catered here (in an attempt to have more control over carbs, calories, and expenditure), so our food discoveries have mostly been of the supermarket variety.

But we did try out a couple of Bulgaria's famous breakfast snacks:




And we've appreciated the kind of products that we don't normally have access to:


Wine-making in Bulgaria goes back millennia. Among the distinctive red wine grape varieties are Mavrud and Melnik:



And here we have three classic Bulgarian products:


From left to right:

-- Lutenitsa is a really nice relish made from capsicums. (You can see a little dab of it accompanying the stuffed peppers at the top.)

-- It's not only the Turks who have ayran!

-- And this is Bulgarian boza, from which word we apparently derive the English word "booze" (since it was once a much more alcoholic drink than the mildly fermented contemporary product). It seems to have the same controversy-inducing quality as durian does in our part of the world -- namely, locals find it delicious, while foreigners are supposed to hate it...

Now, we'd had, and enjoyed, boza in Turkey. The Bulgarian version had more of the roast-cereal flavour that seems to put some people off. But why, though? Unusual, yes. But very flavourful. We had no problem at all polishing off our bottle. But then we love durian too...


So, everything we've tried out we've liked. And, of course, there's lots left to discover next time...