The culinary guide and world encyclopedia of the best tastes TasteAtlas declared the Bulgarian banitsa is the most delicious pastry in the world. Banitsa is a traditional Bulgarian dish made by layering sheets of buttered phyllo pastry with a mixture of eggs, yogurt, and white cheeses like sirene and feta for the simple and classic version of banitsa. Besides the classic cheese filling, this pie can be made with a myriad of different fillings, either savory or sweet.
Pies with a vegetable filling, such as zelnik, are especially popular. Zelnik can be made with a filling of leafy greens like spinach, nettles, marigold, parsley, and cabbage, praznik is made with leeks, while luchnik is a type of banitsa filled with onions. When it comes to sweet versions of banitsa, there is tikvenik, made with pumpkins, an apple-filled variety, shtrudel, or mlecna banitsa – made by soaking pastry sheets with a mixture of milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Bulgarians sometimes fill banitsa with lucky charms, coins, or pieces of paper that have wishes written on them, a practice that is especially popular during the festive winter season. The pie is typically served as a breakfast dish with yogurt or boza on the side.
Traditionally, a cheese pie was prepared and served at Christmas and New Year, but today it can also be bought all year round from grocery stores, street vendors, pavilions, and almost everywhere. In addition to the main variety, there are other types of salty or sweet pies stuffed with various vegetables and fruits, writes TasteAtlas, which leads the ranking of traditional dishes, local ingredients, and authentic restaurants. Its catalog includes over 10,000 foods and beverages – popular as well as forgotten flavors and aromas of cities, regions, and villages around the world. Among the most popular Bulgarian dishes, TasteAtlas also ranks mish-mash, kyufte (meatballs), Shopska salad, tarator, lukanka (sausage), kurabiyki (kind of cookies), pumpkin pie, kavarma, kebabs, lutenitsa, bean soup, soup balls, wine kebab, banska kapama, kyopoolu, shepard salad, patatnik, Garash cake, bahur, etc.