The one thing that amazes most foreign nationals coming to Bulgaria is the great variety of organic foods available at all cities’ markets. A very common scene is to spot an old lady selling fruit and vegetables, grown by herself in her own house’s garden. Strangely enough, these organic goods are even cheaper than the modified ones, which are usually imported from neighboring countries and as a result their prices have gone up. On the other hand the taste of the organic product is quite different, full of natural goodness and one can always tell them apart.
That is why there had been a special law issued in Bulgaria, aiming at protecting the most important foods from genetic modification. According to that injunction all modified products, sold at markets, should bare a special label saying: “this product contains genetically modified organisms”, together with the distributors’ names and addresses. A special permission is required for every seller to be able to present such products at the open market. The Minister of Agriculture is responsible for issuing these permissions and he is the very person who can stop the selling of any particular organically modified goods. The law also forbids entirely any modification to occur on fruits, vegetables, tobacco, wheat and oil-bearing rose as this might be very risky for the people’s health. The new regulation is aimed at preserving the local economy of the small agricultural villages and different business individuals as well as protecting all possible buyers from any organic harm.
So, if you are looking for something new, natural and tasty go to every local open-air market and look for those old ladies, selling rose-red tomatoes, colorful peppers, organic honey right from the beehives (you will recognize it by the jars with labels for anything else but honey!) and all that you need for a nice, healthy, organic meal. Enjoy!
