Context
Country: Bulgaria.
Language(s): Bulgarian (български).
Length of stay(s): 3 visits of approximately 12 days in total, including Sofia, Vidin, Koshava, and Plovdiv.
Main issues
Understanding of concept: Younger people generally understand what a vegetarian is.
Availability: Very good.
Choice of menu: Similar to a Mediterranean diet. Excellent for lacto-ovo vegetarian, eggs and cheese readily available.
Quality: Very good
Value for money: Excellent at time of writing (April 2012); approximately half the cost of similar meals in Western Europe (e.g. Panagiurishte style poached Eggs shown in the image above cost around 2.5 Euros). Often vegetarian options are cheaper than their ‘meat’ counter parts.
Ease of asking for vegetarian options: Moderate (you will probably not be understood if you say ‘you are vegetarian’ in English or a language other than Bulgarian – but English menus are readily available).
Useful information
… er .. none that I can think of at the moment
Useful phrases
- I am a vegetarian – Аз съм вегетарианец вегетарианка
- I do not eat meat – Не ям месо
- I do not eat fish or chicken either – Не ям също така риба и пилешко
- I do eat milk products – Ям млечни продукти
- I do eat eggs – Ям яйца
- I do eat white and yellow cheese – Ям сирене и кашкавал
Overall score
7 out of 10
Report notes
As usual with my travels I was with native speaking friends so that helped a lot.
Other pics …
Doug’s Vegetarian score card assumptions
1) I (and you?) would rather eat something local and traditional than international and from a chain (e.g., McDonald’s or Starbucks)
2) Lacto-ovo is preferred (note, I’m a vegetarian that likes to ensure I have at least 40g of protein a day)
3) I don’t eat fish or seafood (so my score card ignores ‘fish’ options)
4) I’m not a huge ‘foodie’ I start by looking at the nutritional value of food
5) This is all my personal opinion / experience – ‘your mileage may vary‘ as my US friends might say
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