Bulgaria is More Than Yogurt

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by Shiina Adachi

 “Bulgaria is yogurt,” elementary school kids who met on campus said. No, no, no, Bulgaria is not yogurt, it’s a country in Europe that has a long history and diverse natural environment. “I was born there and lived there for the first 19 years of my life. Yeah, it’s a beautiful country,” the only one Bulgarian in APU, Radoslav Tsvetanov Tsvetkov, said. 

The Republic of Bulgaria is located in South East Europe, next to the black sea. It has borders with five countries, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Serbia, and Macedonia. They have their own language, Bulgarian, which is quite similar to Russian. 

Bulgaria is an old country with more than 1,300 years history. It was established in 681 and has been in the same place even though the shape of the country has changed sometimes. Also, people have lived there since a long time ago so there had been many civilizations. This is why Bulgaria has a long history and many historical landmarks. 



“I think Rila Monastery is one of the largest and most known Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Bulgaria,” Tsvetkov said. Rila Monastery is situated in the deep valley of the highest mountain in Bulgaria (Rila-2925m) and was founded in 10th century. A lot of tourists visit this cultural, historical architecture, colorfully painted in yellow, red, white, blue, and green. 


                                                                                                                                                  
“Yes, we have a lot of recipes that use yogurt in Bulgaria,” Tsvetkov said. Not only Bulgarian eat yogurt directly but they also cook with meat and sometimes use it as a sauce. They usually have yogurt for breakfast with cereal, corn flakes, fresh fruits, or honey. “I think Japanese yogurt is a little bit mild. Sometimes even sweet. Just because for us, yogurt is supposed to be sour,” he talked. 

Tsvetkov told one of his favorite dishes that use yogurt. It is called Tarator and people often eat it in the summer. The recipe is simple. You only need five ingredients, plain yogurt, cucumbers, water, olive oil, and salt. You can also put some walnuts or dill (a type of green spice) if you want and make sure that you cut cucumbers into small cubes. After that, you just mix everything and drink it. The taste is salty and sour because yogurt has its natural sourness, but you also put some salt in it. People drink Tarator as a cold summer soup to cool down when it’s hot in Bulgaria. “It’s very easy to make and refreshing,” Tsvetkov said. 


This is the second year for Tsvetkov in APU, but he already did many activities. He is currently in Honors Program and experienced FLAG, ASA, MCW TA, Kyoto Week, and Fashion Week, using the environment of APU fully. He lastly talked about his plan for the future, “I’m gonna do job-hunting in Japan because I want to stay in Japan and continue my career here.”

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