Feature: Feast of traditional national dish held in Bulgaria

Feast of banitsa, one of the most famous and traditional Bulgarian dishes, was held for the 15th consecutive year on Sunday in the village that bears the same name, Banitsa.

Over 130 masters of delicacy, loved by all Bulgarians and guests of the Balkan country, presented their culinary works in front of the local cultural center, some 130 km north of the capital Sofia.

The visitors of the event danced traditional Bulgarian dances and impatiently circled near the crowded tables, while representatives of the jury were taking one eighth of each banitsa for degustation.

Then, the remaining seven eighths of the dishes were left available to the hungry visitors.

Meanwhile, in the cultural center, the master cook Tsvetana Petkova from the village of Banitsa demonstrated making a banitsa.

It looked simple: she crumpled thin pastry crusts, placed them in a baking tin, poured a mixture of eggs, cheese, oil, yogurt and baking powder, and put in a hot oven.

"The most important thing is to put all the products properly: do not skimp on anything. Even put some more cheese and eggs. Desire is the most important," she told Xinhua.

However, Tzvetana's banitsa is one of the many variations of this dish. The head of the jury Ivan Zvezdev, who is host of a popular culinary TV show, told Xinhua that banitsa is among these strange dishes that are pretty diverse as technology and preparation, but have only one name.

Nevertheless, at least one pastry crust is a must. "No pastry crust, no banitsa," he said. Thereafter all kinds of fantasies follow, Zvezdev added.

Because of it, the festival organizers divided the dishes into four categories, including traditional salty banitsa, banitsa with meat and banitsa with vegetables, sweet banitsa, and ingenious banisa.

Zvezdev, after inspecting the tables, said for the first time he saw three variations of stuffing into the dish -- banitsa with lamb plucks, with sour cherries, and with jelly beans.

Despite the abundance of calories around, eating banitsa is not unhealthy, according to Zvezdev.

"This is a dish that has been created keeping in mind the heavy rural work," he said. It should satiate people until the end of the day, while they are on the field.

"There is no time to eat and it is very warm, so that the dish provides enough energy and strength," Zvezdev said. Endit