Bulgarian Slivatree - An Expatriate's Eye in Bulgaria

Singing and Dancing Bulgarian Peppers

Peppers in Bulgaria are barbecued in the main, this is a national pastime in late summer through to the autumn and an event I see every day in the Yambol area. The smell of freshly picked and cooked peppers is unmistakable and for me and many other walking by a home that is cooking peppers on a barbecue, conjures up mix of major jealously and a great deal of dribbling. The lucky recipients of the food are in for a regular treat that is beyond description in a blog. Such a simple food and such an effective treat and celebration of nature's food prepared in such a natural manner.

It is only in the last two years that the potential of peppers has been realised. Before Bulgaria eating peppers wasn't the choice of foods in the UK. They were a food that didn't appeal at all from the point of taste and uniform in shape. So when arriving in Bulgaria, from that background of pepper eating experience growing peppers wasn't really on the agenda. They were, as far as I was concerned, far more tasty food to grow. What's the point of growing food that had no character and didn't give culinary event to look forward?

Then one day, about a year on, Galia put a simple pepper dish in front of me. This was another major event in the food experiences in Bulgaria. There have been so many! The peppers were sweet and tasty with a melt in the mouth sensation; a party was in full swing on my mouth from that point of the peppers gate crashing in. This was a moment I shall never forget as all my prejudices that had built up against UK peppers sudden diminished, just like the peppers that also diminished in a short space of time.

After that event it was a pepper fanatic on the prowl and a pepper section for growing them set aside on the farm. For two years now peppers have been eaten like there is no tomorrow, you just can't get bored with food like this in a country that seems to have a magic element in all that grows here.

I have found that barbecuing the peppers, in the traditional Bulgarian way is the best way to appreciate the full pepper experience. I mentioned a party before; well I have also found that the peppers have their own party whilst being prepared. They sing and dance all the way to the dinner table.

The Barbecue is set up and the peppers are always the first to be cooked. As they lie there and the heat hits them they start dancing, then not long after they start singing. It is fun to watch and hear as they party on until done. They are taken off the heat to cool down then the women peel the skins that come off very easily. Finally they are laid on a dish and a drizzle of oil, a squirt of vinegar and a sprinkle of salt are added. The end result is heavenly!

The dancing peppers are caused by the heat making the skin blister, raising the pepper, the blister bursts and the peppers fall, many little blisters rising and falling make the peppers jive around the hot barbecue grill.

The singing peppers are cause by the heat boiling the moisture inside the peppers creating steam. This steam is built up and needs to escape so the pepper pops. Alongside the big pops of the whole pepper are the little pops of the skin blisters popping. This I suppose could be pepper pop music! Going on, some peppers already have an escape route for the steam and just like a woodwind instrument the steam is force through a small outlet and a the vibrating gap produces a tone and music is created. The greater the heat the more pressure from the steam and a higher pitch note results a symphony of oscillating tones result. Watching an listening we do actually hear and see singing and dancing peppers respectfully; well what else would you expect from Bulgarian peppers!?

A Bulgarian Present - An Apartment

It is traditional in Bulgaria for the parents to provide their children with a home of their own this is normal. This is the main reason why mortgages are rare in Bulgaria the homes are passed down to the siblings without any need for them.

Today was such a day where this happened and the thoughts and emotions of the day were quite profound from everyone who was party to it.

Galia has two sons and two homes in Yambol, one home is the family home in Yambol where here mother and son who will end up with this home. The other is an apartment on the other side of Yambol which where many years ago she worked hard to pay for this over most of her working life, solely to provide for her other son. This is even more of an achievement being a single mother in Bulgaria.

How sensible that this tradition takes place and how unfortunate that the tradition is on the point of collapse, as the housing market prices have rocketed due to tourism, EU admission and greed, not necessarily in that order. The purchase of a new home in Bulgaria for Bulgarian children is beyond the reach of most people here without now the aid of the Banks who are laughing in the face of tradition here with their incessant need to control people and breed credit just for profit. No wonder there are so many banks in Yambol now, many Bulgarian need them to achieve their goal of finding homes of their children and can’t without them.

The tragedy is that the land and credit they can get from banks isn’t enough for property now as the price of an apartment is now longer commensurate to securing a loan based on wages here. Modern Bulgarian families now face the prospect of children who will become homeless when adults with their own families, will this lead to families sharing homes or finding work elsewhere and extended families fragmenting the very foundation of traditional family values in Bulgaria?

The other fact about Bulgarian families is that sensibly only have one or two children, this is purely practical in view of the responsibility that comes with parents. If you can’t afford to have the children and provide and set them up into adulthood with a home then don’t. How many other people in other countries look at this value when considering a family?

Back to the apartment that is now going to be handed over to Galia’s elder son, he has his girlfriend with him this evening. They called at the house at 8:30 it was dark and we all went see the apartment, which is now empty from the previous rent paying residents being ousted for this moment.

We arrived to be greeted by all the neighbours who were sitting out in the street talking. The smell of barbecued peppers and Rakia was strong but I couldn’t quite see where it was coming from, perhaps on of the many balconies that hung out of the small apartment blocks. It made my mouth water, even though we had had barbecued peppers to eat earlier that evening. It was a full 20 minutes before the talking stopped and we went inside the block.

Everyone is excited, Anton and Koyna for this was the first time they were to see the apartment. Galia as she was proud that all her lifetime efforts were now seeing a result in her son having his own home. Not least me as this was a totally new concept for me to see, a parent providing security for here son with the knowledge that she will be giving everything she has away. No need for wills to be made promising inheritance; this is all based on family trust and custom here. She will be looked after in the family house with her other son and future partner until she dies, he has the bigger share and therefore the responsibility of looking after his mother, just like Galia is looking after her mother in the family home presently. The idea of living in a home that you don’t own is something I find very hard to accept. The degree of family trust and a total materialistic stand off are the reasons that this happens here.

In the ground floor entrance was a series of brown painted metal post boxes as Anton checked his with number 8 written on it. He joked when he saw nothing in there saying that it will be full of bill for the apartment soon.

The basement of the block was explored, each apartment has a basement room for storage and we saw there were stacked metal shelves with lots of glass jars full of preserved tomatoes and peppers and old Russian Christmas decorations and a big wooden barrel that had some ancient wine in. On the top shelf was a new plastic covered single bed, something the previous resident had either forgot to take or will come back for as it is far too good to leave.

We finally got up to the first floor where the apartment was, before we entered Galia gave Anton the key and that was the formal acceptance of the apartment as a gift. He gingerly opened the secure front door amidst three other very individual doors in the hallway with hand made mats and slipper placed on them.

On entering the place was swarming with insects and a stale smell greeted us, but we were all beyond that as we explored the kitchen living room, bedroom and wet room (bathroom). There was a box room next to the kitchen and a sealed balcony with interconnections with the living room and bedroom overlooking the street.

For us all the place was a home but needed a lot of work all the tile were falling apart in the kitchen area and the rest was just in need of a total stripping and redecoration, the place has never been modernised since it was built some 30 years ago. We of course will all work together as a family to get it into shape. Money was offered to help with this as the gifting goes on. But I feel that Anton was overjoyed as for the first time he has now a place he can call his own home, but of course this will be passed down to his children in around 25 years time. No need to die to give.

We locked up and reflected on the moment of handing over and what work was still to be done and ended up in a local bar where the owner is a Bulgarian television celebrity. Ivo Anton brother had just finished work and was invited there as well as we all finally sat drinking a beer or two in celebration of the day in which Anton was given an apartment as his home. A lovely end to a day of giving.

A Bargain Bulgarian Lifestyle

It was with deep reflection last night thinking about what has happened over the last four years. Four years ago I didn't even know where Bulgaria was. There wasn't any reason for me to know at that point.

How did I find out about Bulgaria? Well it was an accident. It had always been a dream to be self sufficient with a smallholding, the intention was 30 years ago to do this in England, but got priced out straight away. Then the idea was to go to France, again this idea was always there but family and career held the plan back and of course, we were priced out again!

Then by a quirk of fate a search on eBay was made with the word 'smallholding' and a property came up in Bulgaria. It was an auction of course and there was only 8 hours remaining at the bid, without reserve, was a mere £1,800.

My instant reaction was of total disbelief looking at the property and land. I put it down to a scam but curiously followed the bidding to the close. The property was sold for just over £2000! It was mind blowing to me that conceivably you could buy a property for the price of a two-week family holiday, or the price of a jalopy second-hand car!

The seed was sown as I set about searching for other properties that were for sale and found that these prices were commonplace in Bulgaria. It was at that point that my whole world was turned upside-down and the opportunity to live a self-sufficient life on a smallholding came alive again. There was no way I was going to wait and be priced out again!

Four years on form that day I am now living a life in Bulgaria and produce most of the food we eat here. I have a Bulgarian partner and can now get by very well with the Bulgarian language.

The luckiest part of all is that I absolutely love Bulgaria, the Bulgarian people and the way of life that is led here. It is living in poverty but I’m happy and will never go hungry. We work together as a family and a community to make ends meet. There is never a time where you are ever isolated. In reality, it wasn't only a home I bought that I could just afford outright, but a bargain way of life of which no amount of money could buy.

Bulgaria is not for everyone though. Other expatriates who have come here have not settled as the only reason they are here is because it is cheap not because they like the country or the non flamboyant lifestyle. They may not be honest or brave enough to say so, but from what I see, that remains a fact.

Shoppe Style Cheese

Shoppe Style Cheese has its roots in Sofia. This delightful vegetarian snack was held back from being sampled until I had met Galia my Bulgarian partner. She took me to a Bulgarian restaurant in Yambol to try this dish out then asked me to compare with her own cooking. Both were excellent but Galia had the edge not least as it was made in the village of Skalitsa using all homegrown ingredients off my own farm.