Sixty-two percent of Bulgarian adults declare that every year their families store jars with homemade jams, pickles, chutney, eggplant mash etc. Eight percent admit to practicing this delicious habit from time to time. Twenty-two percent deny any involvement in preparing homemade wonders. The findings come from the latest nationwide survey of BBSS Gallup International, and the conclusions is that despite the overwhelming diversity on sale in Bulgarian supermarkets and open markets, most Bulgarians still prepare homemade preserved food.
What is the story behind the figures? Well, in the first place, we should say from the beginning that domestic manufacture of preserved food has been part of the private economy of Bulgarians for centuries. Other European nations did the same expecting harsh winters with little available food in times when there was no food-processing industry and no highways. Today the world has changed beyond recognition, but Bulgarians are still stubbornly keen on the homemade pickles. It maybe that Bulgarians have unconventional taste that large supermarket chains cannot satisfy, so they have to resort to the DIY principle. In fact this is not true either. It is however true that until recently Bulgarians looked with dismay at exotic food such as avocados, Peking Duck, seafood, sushi and truffles and chose to stake on the popular tomatoes, beans, potatoes, cabbages, pears and strawberries instead. One of the explanations of the incessant enthusiasm of Bulgarians to hoard preserved food for the winter is their low buying power, the lowest in the European Union. This is partly true, although the findings of the mentioned survey also suggest that preparing pickles is not foreign to people with high social status either. Fifty-one percent of Bulgarians with incomes above the average declare that they are still attached to the preserving glass. Fifty-four percent of Bulgarians with modern lifestyles – who travel widely, use the internet and speak foreign languages – have not given up homemade preserved food. So, Bulgarians tend to be die-hard fans of homemade pickles.
Of course, there is more behind the story. Preserved food requires a lot of effort, and is sometimes a bit risky from a sanitary point of view. Despite that, it remains an authentic Bulgarian deli; a deli that has no analogue in factory production. Besides, homemade preserved food is part of the traditional agenda of Bulgarians, an attribute of local lifestyles that even young people enjoy. Open to the diversity of the world, the dynamic young generation is obviously aware that the Bulgarian culinary tradition is as valuable as the French cuisine, that UNESCO recently named intangible heritage of the world. Is a Bulgarian pickled delicacy worthy of this pedestal? It’s more yes than no. Now it is important for European institutions which declare firm commitment to the principle of originality in diversity to try and support the authentic tinned food industry that Bulgarians actually run. This will enrich the tastes of Europe too, and could even create new jobs. After all, the best way of happiness is through the stomach, isn’t it?
English version Daniela Konstantinova
По публикацията работи: Vladimir Subev
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