In this engaging travel piece, the author recounts a summer expedition into Macedonia’s wine country, and a trip down the country’s ‘other’ lake - Tikvesh, which is also the general name for the entire dry and dusty region of south-central... Full Story

Ajvar, lyutenitsa, zacuscă or biber salçası? The peppers, tomatoes and aubergines purée is to inflame as much hostility as the Macedonian issue a century ago.

The whole thing must have started innocently enough, with the intoxicating smell... Full Story

Once in a local restaurant in Urfa, most connoisseurs of Turkish cuisine would immediately order the Urfa kebab – the wonderfully tasty pieces of ground meat on a stick, accompanied by lots of onion and tomato fried on a hot plate, spiced with... Full Story

Like all nations, the people of the Balkans also have their culinary obsessions: the Turks put aubergines over everything, the Greeks – oregano, and the Bulgarians – a herb known as tshubritsa (a kind of savory), thus making the meaning of the... Full Story

During the height of winter the Balkans destroy their treasures. But this is not some kind of season of vandalism; it is rather a period of sweet pleasures – the treasures are culinary and they get devoured. In order to make these happy weeks... Full Story

A dozen modifications of the same dish are at the bottom of a deep culinary dispute on the Balkans. The Bulgarian banitsa, the Serbian gibanica, the Greek pita, the Macedonian maznik and the Bosnian-Turkish börek are in constant competition over... Full Story

In France, they have been making boudain for at least 1000 years, using at least 100 different recipes. On the Balkans, they have been making boudain for at least 1000 years, using at least 100 different recipes and there are at least ten nations... Full Story

There is a peculiar type of people living in northern Bulgaria. They name their villages Kravoder, Kurkizhaba or Studeno Buche; ride bikes or donkeys; raise fledglings in a bucket; and give their neighbours sarcastic nicknames. Full Story

Most Europeans associate sour cabbage with a film scene in which the French comedian Louis de Funès demonstrated the consequences of its consumption. We get the French sense of humour and there is probably not a single Bulgarian who didn’t cry... Full Story