Gluten-Free in Bulgaria. No, really!

This week's entry is coming to you from the lovely city of Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria! It's absolutely beautiful. The people are wonderful, the culture is steeped in tradition, and the food is absolutely amazing! The highlight of my trips here always involve sampling of the shopska salads at the local restaurants.

Shopska Salata at Victoria Pizzaria

Unlike a typical salad, the basic shopska salad uses no lettuce. Instead, it begins with tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese.  It should be noted that if you're in Bulgaria, that cheese comes in two varieties as far as the menus for travelers are concerned: yellow cheese and white cheese. The yellow cheese is similar to muenster cheese and is more cream in color than the annatto yellow that most yellow cheeses come in. Yellow cheese also goes by the name "Kashkaval" but most menus in Bulgaria simply refer to it as yellow cheese for the ease of foreigners.


The white cheese, or "sirene" <SEER-in-neh>, as the Bulgarians call it, is actually very similar to feta cheese. You can find it in specialty cheese shops under the name "Bulgarian Feta." It has a stronger, tangier taste than regular Greek feta and is made of goats milk, which lends to its creamy texture. The white cheese is what adds the magic to the shopska salad.

(White cheese is also heavenly when melted over "Pareejehne kartofee" or "French Fries". The taste is similar to a calzone if you ask me. Pure heaven!)

Shopska in a "take away" box.

Each restaurant gives the shopska salad its own personality. The salads all start with a base of cucumbers & tomatoes chopped into bite size pieces. Then one or more of the following are added, depending on on the establishment: onions, roasted peppers, raw peppers, black olives, kalamata olives, & Italian parsley. The final touch, regardless of of what's stacked on top of the tomato and cucumber base, is a heavenly mound of shredded, snowy white Bulgarian feta, a kiss of vinegar, & a splash of a good olive oil.




You could add salt and pepper, but if you have the fortune of eating a shopska salad in Bulgaria, you'll find that the vegetables here are so flavorful, that the salt & pepper would probably just get lost in the sea of vegetable goodness.

So if you're in Bulgaria and want to find something that's safe to eat if you have a wheat sensitivity, the shopska salad is the way to go. The nice thing about this dish is that you can make it to liven up your normal routine in your own kitchen without having to travel to Bulgaria. It's a fast, simple dish, and is absolutely delicious.

Bon appétit!