Electronic library
Old Bulgarian Cookbooks
The legacy of culinary literature in Bulgaria remains poorly studied and known, even among professionals. The collection you will find below has been accumulated throughout many years. Not all copies are of excellent quality. Nevertheless, here we offer access to the earliest sources with cooking instructions for housewives and professional chefs.
Petko Rachov Slaveykov
Cooking book
1870
Published in Constantinople, this is the first Bulgarian cookbook - in it Petko Slaveykov describes the cuisine and cooking practices among the Bulgarian community in the then capital of the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman/Greek/Middle Eastern cuisine is fused with Western European Recipes.
Petko Rachov Slaveykov
Cooking book
1870
This first volume of Smrikarov's edition contains household advice. It was issued with the intention of helping Bulgarian households to modernise and improve their practices. British household advice serves as a standard to the author.
Publication of the "Bulgarian Almanac"
Domestic Cookbook
1895
"Let us not be offended if we say to ourselves that if there is something neglected in our country, and in general, in our family life, it is the Art of Cooking," begins the introduction of this book: the third Bulgarian cooking book, and a first in book publishing by cookery literature until World War II. The word baguette is already in use, Parmesan cheese is popular, truffels are familiar and green salad is part of the diet. The steaks are still called "brizoli" and there is a recipe for polenta, while the Bulgarian word for it, kachamak, is not mentioned. The fish recipes chapter leaves little doubt that seafood was part of the urban menu well before the establishment of ocean fishing!
Publication of the "Bulgarian Almanac"
Domestic Cookbook
1891
When writing this work, says the author, I had mainly set myself the task that through science and economy it would be possible for everyone to know what is necessary, useful, good and relevant. I wanted to provide a guide for every family and for every person on anything that might interest him in relation to his domestic and social life”.
Translation from French
1200 recipes
1901
This book, translated from French, contains recipes and advice for the household, including home food production: farming, gardening, viticulture, winemaking, as well as basic advice on hygiene, medicine and veterinary medicine.
Edition for girls' schools
Household Manual
1900
The compiler of this first known manual for the girls' economic schools in Bulgaria is D. P. Apostolov, a teacher at the Annunciation High School in Thessaloniki. However, the volume was produced in Plovdiv, in the printing house of D.V. Manchov.
Maria Redelin
A book on food canning
1903
This is the first book in the Bulgarian language, dedicated specifically to food preservation. It is translated from Russian, although this is not mentioned in the Bulgarian version. The original is from 1897 and was compiled by Maria Redelin, editor of the Riga Housewives' Gazette. In the preface, the author notes that just ten years before her collection was published, canned foods were only available to the wealthy. One of the reasons many homemakers avoided canning was that it was done in tins and they had to rely on outsiders to come in and solder the lids on the cans. Redelin explains in detail how women can do this themselves - with the help of "soldering iron, a soldering tin, a chisel, a hammer, a file, two wet rags, a small brush and water".
Publication of the "Bulgarian Almanac"
Domestic Cookbook
1895
"Let us not find it insulting to admit that if there is something neglected in our country, and in general, in our domestic life, it is the Art of Cooking," begins the introduction of this book: the third Bulgarian cookbook, and a prototype in the publishing of cooking literature until the Second World War. The word "baguette" is already in use. Parmesan, truffles and lettuce are already on the menu. If you think that Bulgaria did not have fish culture before the communist ocean fishing came into existence, take a look at the fish recipes chapter!
Edited by D. Dr. Hr. Yurdanova
A cooking guide every family needs
1903
This cookbook features cooking instructions "according to the method" of Magdalena Dobromila Retigova - a popular representative of the Czech Renaissance (born 1785, died 1845, pictured below) and one of the founders of girls' education in the country. The book was published in the printing house of D.T. Damyanov in Svishtov.
Translation from French
1200 recipes
1901
This book, translated from French, contains recipes and advice for the household, including home food production: farming, gardening, viticulture, winemaking, as well as basic advice on hygiene, medicine and veterinary medicine.
Edition for girls' schools
Household Manual
1904
The compiler of this first known manual for the girls' economic schools in Bulgaria is D. P. Apostolov, a teacher at the Annunciation High School in Thessaloniki. However, the volume was produced in Plovdiv, in the printing house of D.V. Manchov.
Maria Redelin
A book on food canning
1906
This is the first book in the Bulgarian language, dedicated specifically to food preservation. It is translated from Russian, although this is not mentioned in the Bulgarian version. The original is from 1897 and was compiled by Maria Redelin, editor of the Riga Housewives' Gazette. In the preface, the author notes that just ten years before her collection was published, canned foods were only available to the wealthy. One of the reasons many homemakers avoided canning was that it was done in tins and they had to rely on outsiders to come in and solder the lids on the cans. Redelin explains in detail how women can do this themselves - with the help of "soldering iron, a soldering tin, a chisel, a hammer, a file, two wet rags, a small brush and water".
Publication of the "Bulgarian Almanac"
Domestic Cookbook
1895
"Let us not find it insulting to admit that if there is something neglected in our country, and in general, in our domestic life, it is the Art of Cooking," begins the introduction of this book: the third Bulgarian cookbook, and a prototype in the publishing of cooking literature until the Second World War. The word "baguette" is already in use. Parmesan, truffles and lettuce are already on the menu. If you think that Bulgaria did not have fish culture before the communist ocean fishing came into existence, take a look at the fish recipes chapter!
Edited by D. Dr. Hr. Yurdanova
A cooking guide every family needs
1908
This cookbook features cooking instructions "according to the method" of Magdalena Dobromila Retigova - a popular representative of the Czech Renaissance (born 1785, died 1845, pictured below) and one of the founders of girls' education in the country. The book was published in the printing house of D.T. Damyanov in Svishtov.
