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Shopska salad

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Shopska salad
Shopska salad as served in Bulgaria
Alternative names
  • Bulgarian salad
  • Letna salata
  • Summer salad
  • Village salad
TypeSalad
Place of originBulgaria, Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, Druzhba resort, "Chernomorets" restaurant[1][2][3]
Main ingredientsTomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, sirene
Ingredients for Shopska salad
One of the first Balkantourist hotels in the Black Sea resort where the salad was invented. (early 1950s.)

Shopska salad (Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian: Шопска салата; Croatian: Šopska salata; Romanian: Salata bulgărească; Czech: Šopský salát; Albanian: Sallatë Fshati; Hungarian: Sopszka saláta; Greek: Σαλάτα σόπσκα) is a cold salad popular throughout Southeastern Europe.[4][5][6] It is Bulgaria's most famous salad and national dish.[7]

Ingredients and serving

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The dish is made from tomatoes, cucumbers, onion/scallions, raw or roasted peppers, and sirene, a white brined cheese similar to feta.[8][9] The vegetables are usually diced and salted, followed by a light dressing of sunflower oil (or olive oil, which is less authentic),[10] which is occasionally complemented by vinegar. The addition of vinegar contributes, however, to the sour flavour that the tomatoes impart. In restaurants, the dressings are provided separately. Lastly, the vegetables are covered in a thick layer of grated or diced sirene cheese. This salad is often consumed as an appetizer with rakia.

According to food anthropologist Rayna Gavrilova, the dish is commonly accompanied by a shot of apricot or other fruit brandy.[4]

Background and history

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Tomatoes appeared in Southeastern Europe in the mid-1800s.[4]

In the post-war socialist era, Balkantourist focused on marketing Bulgaria's Black Sea coast as a tourist destination for Bulgarians and for western tourists as a way of showcasing the socialist "good life".[11] This included reinventing and remarketing regional dishes to identify them as Bulgarian rather than simply Eastern European.[11] The Shopska salad is a variation on a Greek salad[11]: 54  of cucumbers, tomatoes, and feta; Balkantourist in 1956 named their version Shopska salad.[11][12] The salad's colors, which mimic those of the Bulgarian flag, were a happy coincidence that was seen as a positive for evoking a national sentiment.[11][13][14]

Despite the fact that the salad's name comes from the westernmost Bulgarian region called Shopluk, it first appeared at the Black Sea coast, in a resort near Varna, called Druzhba in the restaurant "Chernomorets".[15][16] It can be found in one of the first state-approved cookbooks from 1956 (Sbornik recepti 1956, vol. 1, p. 50).[17][18] The development and popularization of the salad is attributed to a leader in Bulgarian tourism Petar Doychev (1924–2019).[19]

The dish was initially served in Bulgaria only in the hotels of Balkantourist.[18] It is the only survivor of five or six recipes similarly created for and marketed by the tourism industry.[18] It became an emblem of Bulgarian tourism.[20] It was approved as a national culinary symbol during the 1970s and 1980s.[21] In 2014 Shopska salad was Bulgaria's most recognizable dish in Europe. It was the most popular recipe in a European Parliament initiative called A Taste of Europe.[22]

Origin dispute

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According to the Bulgarian edition of Deutsche Welle, the Balkantourist recipe spread from Bulgaria to the cuisine of neighboring countries.[23] Deutsche Welle noted a restaurant in Croatia claimed the salad as a Croatian national dish.[23] According to Radio Bulgaria and the Sofia News Agency, Serbian newspaper Politika in the 2000s claimed the salad as Serbian rather than Bulgarian, Macedonian or Czech.[24][25] Although the salad was promoted on the Black Sea coast, because its name refers to the area of Shopluk -- which is divided among Bulgaria, Serbia and North Macedonia -- after the breakup of Yugoslavia chefs in those areas began to contest the Bulgarian origin of the salad.[citation needed]

Bulgaria requested protected geographical indication from the European Union; Serbia objected.[13]

Similar dishes in other cuisines

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References

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  1. ^ Per Petar Doychev, at that time he and his colleagues were assembled in the restaurant "Chernomorets" by the leadership of the resort and it was said: "Think about something new, we can not offer only several salads to the guests." The chefs brought different products and began to offer variants for a new salad - fresh vegetables: cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, onions, parsley, chopped cheese, etc. But it turned out that the offer was the so-called "Thracian salad". It was needed some other variation. The chefs suggested: "First, we will make the peppers baked! Secondly, the cheese will be grated, not chopped." Anything else? - asked the leadership. Everyone was silent. And I saw a hot pepper on the table, and as I was sitting, I picked it up and put it in the grated cheese, in the middle of the project of the new salad, and said: "Here, let the Shopi in Sofia, rejoice!" And the cooks clapped their hands and said, "Come on, let's it be called a Shopska salad!" So I became its godfather. СУ „Св. Климент Охридски”, „Антропология на Храненето”, Бистра Стоименова, „Шопска ли е шопската салата–или за флуидността на балканската кухня“, София, 2017.
  2. ^ Raymond Detrez, Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria, 3rd ed, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4422-4179-4, p. 451
  3. ^ The original recipe for the Salad was invented and established in 1954-55 in the restaurant "Chernomorets" in the resort "St. St. Constantine and Helena" ("Druzhba" 1957 - 1992). Шопската салата била "изобретена" от "Балкантурист" през 1955 г., твърди експерт. В-к Дневник онлайн, 30 дек. 2018 г. Archived 2019-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b c Gavrilova, Rayna (2005-01-01). "Golden fruits from the orchards". Culinary Cultures of Europe: Identity, Diversity and Dialogue. Council of Europe. pp. 100–102. ISBN 978-92-871-5744-7.
  5. ^ Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia, Ken Albala, ABC-CLIO, 2011 Archived 2023-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, ISBN 0313376263, p. 67.
  6. ^ Mangia Bene! New American Family Cookbooks, Kate DeVivo, Capital Books, 2002, ISBN 1892123851, p. 170. Archived 2023-05-12 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Abel Polese, Oleksandra Seliverstova, Emilia Pawlusz, Jeremy Morris as ed., Informal Nationalism After Communism: The Everyday Construction of Post-Socialist Identities; Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018; ISBN 1838608745, p .156.
  8. ^ Miller-Yianni, Martin (November 2008). "Simple Treasures in Bulgaria, Martin Miller-Yianni, Martin Miller-Yianni, 2008, p. 11". Archived from the original on 2023-05-12. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  9. ^ "Balkan Cuisine: Shopska Salad". Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
  10. ^ Zhang, Jenny. "Shopska Salad: A Bulgarian Necessity". Organically Blissful. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  11. ^ a b c d e Neuburger, Mary (2017-11-01). "Dining in Utopia: A Taste of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast under Socialism". Gastronomica. 17 (4): 48–60. doi:10.1525/gfc.2017.17.4.48. ISSN 1529-3262.
  12. ^ Дечев, Стефан. Българска, но не точно шопска. За един от кулинарните символи, Български фолклор, год. ХХХVІ, 2010, кн. 1, с. 130 – 131, 133, 136.
  13. ^ a b Detrez, Raymond (2014-12-18). Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria (in German). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-4180-0.
  14. ^ Maria Angelova, "Shopska: The Bulgarian Salad Invented in the Communist Era"; Culture Trip Archived 2020-08-12 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ^ Per Petar Doychev, at that time he and his colleagues were assembled in the restaurant "Chernomorets" by the leadership of the resort and it was said: "Think about something new, we can not offer only several salads to the guests." The chefs brought different products and began to offer variants for a new salad - fresh vegetables: cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, onions, parsley, chopped cheese, etc. But it turned out that the offer was the so-called "Thracian salad". It was needed some other variation. The chefs suggested: "First, we will make the peppers baked! Secondly, the cheese will be grated, not chopped." Anything else? - asked the leadership. Everyone was silent. And I saw a hot pepper on the table, and as I was sitting, I picked it up and put it in the grated cheese, in the middle of the project of the new salad, and said: "Here, let the Shopi in Sofia, rejoice!" And the cooks clapped their hands and said, "Come on, let's it be called a Shopska salad!" So I became its godfather. СУ „Св. Климент Охридски”, „Антропология на Храненето”, Бистра Стоименова, „Шопска ли е шопската салата–или за флуидността на балканската кухня“, София, 2017.
  16. ^ The original recipe for the Salad was invented and established in 1954-55 in the restaurant "Chernomorets" in the resort "St. St. Constantine and Helena" ("Druzhba" 1957 - 1992). Шопската салата била "изобретена" от "Балкантурист" през 1955 г., твърди експерт. В-к Дневник онлайн, 30 дек. 2018 г. Archived 2019-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ Klaus Roth, Ulf Brunnbauer as ed., Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, vol. 2. Ethnologia Balkanica; Lit Verlag, 2009, ISBN 3643101074, p. 26.
  18. ^ a b c That Salad was created by professional chefs from "Balkanturist" in 1956 at the restaurant "Chernomorets" in the then resort "Druzhba", now "Saint Konstantin and Elena" near Varna, Bulgaria. For the first time, the salad recipe appeared in 1956 in a "Book of the hostess" of P. Cholcheva and Al.Ruseva and it contained all the components of today Shopska except the cheese. In the following years, there were undergoing series of modifications to the recipe - in 1970 in the book "Recipe for cooking and confectionery" were given four options for Shopska salad - with onion and cheese; without onion and cheese; with roasted peppers and cheese; not sweet, but with chili pepper and cheese. In the early 1970s, roasted peppers and grated cheese were imposed as a mandatory component. Initially, the salad was served only in restaurants of "Balkanturist" and later it became popular in the home kitchens in the country. It became a national culinary symbol in Bulgaria during the 1970s and 1980s. For more see: Albena Shkodrova, Socialist gourmet, Janet 45, Sofia, 2014, ISBN 9786191860906, pp. 260-261.
  19. ^ He is known as the creator of the technology of the famous brand "Shopska salad".... For more see: The doyen of Bulgarian tourism, who invented the Shopska salad, died. Newspaper 24 часа 07.08.2019 г. Archived 2020-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Klaus Roth, Ulf Brunnbauer as ed., Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Part 2; Lit, 2009; ISBN 3643101074, p . 26.
  21. ^ Шкодрова, Албена: Соц гурме. Куриозната история на кухнята в НРБ, София, изд. Жанет 45, 2014 г., с.260.
  22. ^ "Europost, Weekly for politics, business and culture, 23 May 2014, Shopska salad wins European vote". Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  23. ^ a b Engelhardt, Karla (1 December 2015). "How "Balkantourist" came up with the Shop salad". Deutsche Welle (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2024-04-20.
  24. ^ "Serbian Publication: Shopska Salad Is Not Bulgarian". Sofia News Agency. 11 August 2009. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
  25. ^ Harizanova, Tanya (7 October 2009). "Shop salad - Balkan disputes and tastes". Radio Bulgaria (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2024-04-20.
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