Shopska salad is a cold salad popular throughout Southeastern Europe.Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia, Ken Albala, ABC-CLIO, 2011 , , p. 67.Mangia Bene! New American Family Cookbooks, Kate DeVivo, Capital Books, 2002, , p. 170. It is Bulgaria's most famous salad and national dish.Abel Polese, Oleksandra Seliverstova, Emilia Pawlusz, Jeremy Morris as ed., Informal Nationalism After Communism: The Everyday Construction of Post-Socialist Identities; Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018; , p .156.
Ingredients and serving The dish is made from tomatoes, cucumbers, onion/scallions, raw or roasted peppers, and sirene, a white brined cheese similar to feta, but much milder in taste. The vegetables are usually diced and salted, followed by a light dressing of sunflower oil (or olive oil), which is occasionally complemented by vinegar. The addition of vinegar contributes, however, to the sour flavour that the tomatoes impart. In restaurants, the dressings are provided separately. Finally, the vegetables are covered in a thick layer of grated or diced sirene cheese. This salad is often consumed as an appetizer with rakia.
According to food anthropologist Rayna Gavrilova, the dish is commonly accompanied by a shot of apricot or other fruit brandy.
Background and history Tomatoes appeared in Southeastern Europe in the mid-1800s. According to historical sources, in the last decades of the 19th century, Bulgarians had a vague idea of what a salad was. The import of vegetable seeds to Bulgaria was established only in the 1930s. Then salads were first adopted by the urban population and later recipes for them began to be published in cookbooks.Стефан Дечев, „Шопска салата”: как се ражда един национален кулинарен символ, стр. 411-463. В търсене на българското. Мрежи на национална интимност (XIX-XXI век). София: Институт за изследване на изкуствата, 2010, . The term "Shopska salad" first appeared in a Bulgarian cookbook from 1940, but it referred to a recipe for some kind of lyutenitsa.Стефан Дечев, Обичам шопската салата, или как се ражда един национален кулинарен символ. Капитал, 23 декември 2010 г.
In the post-war socialist era, Balkantourist focused on marketing Bulgaria's Black Sea coast as a tourist destination for Bulgarians and for western tourists as a way of showcasing the socialist "good life". This included reinventing and remarketing regional dishes to identify them as Bulgarian rather than simply Eastern European. The Shopska salad is a variation on a Greek salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and feta; Balkantourist in 1956 named their version Shopska salad.Дечев, Стефан. Българска, но не точно шопска. За един от кулинарните символи, Български фолклор, год. ХХХVІ, 2010, кн. 1, с. 130 – 131, 133, 136. The salad's colors, which mimic those of the Bulgarian flag, were coincidences which were seen as a positive for evoking national sentiment.Maria Angelova, "Shopska: The Bulgarian Salad Invented in the Communist Era"; Culture Trip .
Despite the fact that the salad's name comes from the westernmost Bulgarian region called Shopluk, it first appeared at the Black Sea coast, in a resort near Varna, called Druzhba in the restaurant "Chernomorets".Per Petar Doychev, at that time he and his colleagues were assembled in the restaurant "Chernomorets" by the leadership of the resort and it was said: "Think about something new, we can not offer only several salads to the guests." The chefs brought different products and began to offer variants for a new salad - fresh vegetables: cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, onions, parsley, chopped cheese, etc. But it turned out that the offer was the so-called "Thracian salad". It was needed some other variation. The chefs suggested: "First, we will make the peppers baked! Secondly, the cheese will be grated, not chopped." Anything else? - asked the leadership. Everyone was silent. And I saw a hot pepper on the table, and as I was sitting, I picked it up and put it in the grated cheese, in the middle of the project of the new salad, and said: "Here, let the Shopi in Sofia, rejoice!" And the cooks clapped their hands and said, "Come on, let's it be called a Shopska salad!" So I became its godfather. СУ „Св. Климент Охридски”, „Антропология на Храненето”, Бистра Стоименова, „Шопска ли е шопската салата–или за флуидността на балканската кухня“, София, 2017.The original recipe for the Salad was invented and established in 1954-55 in the restaurant "Chernomorets" in the resort "St. St. Constantine and Helena" ("Druzhba" 1957 - 1992). Шопската салата била "изобретена" от "Балкантурист" през 1955 г., твърди експерт. В-к Дневник онлайн, 30 дек. 2018 г. It can be found in one of the first state-approved cookbooks from 1956 (Sbornik recepti 1956, vol. 1, p. 50).Klaus Roth, Ulf Brunnbauer as ed., Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, vol. 2. Ethnologia Balkanica; Lit Verlag, 2009, , p. 26. The development and popularization of the salad is attributed to a leader in Bulgarian tourism (1924–2019).He is known as the creator of the technology of the famous brand "Shopska salad".... For more see: The doyen of Bulgarian tourism, who invented the Shopska salad, died. Newspaper 24 часа 07.08.2019 г. According to Doychev, the Shopska salad was a continuation of the "Harvest salad", developed earlier by "Balkantourist".Шопската салата била "изобретена" от "Балкантурист" през 1955 г., твърди експерт. 30 декември 2018 г., Дневник.
The dish was initially served in Bulgaria only in the hotels of Balkantourist. It is the only survivor of five or six recipes similarly created for and marketed by the tourism industry.That Salad was created by professional chefs from "Balkanturist" in 1956 at the restaurant "Chernomorets" in the then resort "Druzhba", now "Saint Konstantin and Elena" near Varna, Bulgaria. For the first time, the salad recipe appeared in 1956 in a "Book of the hostess" of P. Cholcheva and Al.Ruseva and it contained all the components of today Shopska except the cheese. In the following years, there were undergoing series of modifications to the recipe - in 1970 in the book "Recipe for cooking and confectionery" were given four options for Shopska salad - with onion and cheese; without onion and cheese; with roasted peppers and cheese; not sweet, but with chili pepper and cheese. In the early 1970s, roasted peppers and grated cheese were imposed as a mandatory component. Initially, the salad was served only in restaurants of "Balkanturist" and later it became popular in the home kitchens in the country. It became a national culinary symbol in Bulgaria during the 1970s and 1980s. For more see: Albena Shkodrova, Socialist gourmet, Janet 45, Sofia, 2014, , pp. 260-261. It became an emblem of Bulgarian tourism.Klaus Roth, Ulf Brunnbauer as ed., Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Part 2; Lit, 2009; , p . 26. It was approved as a national culinary symbol during the 1970s and 1980s.Шкодрова, Албена: Соц гурме. Куриозната история на кухнята в НРБ, София, изд. Жанет 45, 2014 г., с.260. In 2014 Shopska salad was Bulgaria's most recognizable dish in Europe. It was the most popular recipe in a European Parliament initiative called A Taste of Europe. In 2025, CNN ranked Shopska salad among the 24 best salads in the world.Cindy Augustine, 24 of the world’s best salads. June 18, 2025, CNN.
Origin dispute According to the Bulgarian edition of Deutsche Welle, the Balkantourist recipe spread from Bulgaria to the cuisine of neighboring countries. Deutsche Welle noted a restaurant in Croatia claimed the salad as a Croatian national dish. According to Radio Bulgaria and the Sofia News Agency, Serbian newspaper Politika in the 2000s claimed the salad as Serbian rather than Bulgarian, Macedonian or Czech. According to the Bulgarian weekly , in North Macedonia, they also claim the Shopska salad as a local product.Сима Владимирова, Особености на македонската национална кухня. 168 часа, 12.07.2025 г., 168 часа.
Similar dishes in other cuisines
Afghan salad, a similar salad from Afghanistan Arab salad, a similar salad from the Arab world Armenian salad, a similar salad from Armenia Çoban salatası, a similar salad from Turkey Greek salad, a similar salad from Greece Israeli salad, a similar salad from Israel Kachumbari, a similar salad from East Africa Kachumber, a similar salad from India Pico de gallo, a similar salsa from Mexico Serbian salad, a similar salad from Serbia Shirazi salad, a similar salad from Iran
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