Traditionally, food was eaten in the fields or pastures, or consumed on returning home - which meant subsisting on bread, cheese, vegetables and fruit throughout the day until an evening meal of stew or grilled meat. Nowadays, people eat rather less frugally, but the habit of picking up a bite to eat in the morning and continuing to nibble at snacks throughout the day still remains. In general, the best advice is to keep an eye out for signs advertising zakuski a generic term meaning either breakfast or any daytime snack.

In towns and cities, a typical breakfast tends to consist of an espresso coffee and a cigarette, followed by another round of the same if one still feels any hunger. Few restaurants, except for fast-food or self-service places, open for breakfast, and the most convenient places to pick up snack food are the stalls and kiosks that tend to congregate around main thoroughfares, train and bus stations. You can also pick up a pastry from a patisserie , to be washed down with one of two traditional breakfast drinks: yoghurt ( kiselo mlyako ), or boza , a browny-coloured millet drink that tastes like liquidized breakfast cereal.

The most common Bulgarian snack food is banitsa (often referred to by its diminutive form, banichka , or known in some areas as byurek ), a flaky pastry filled with cheese or, on occasion, meat. At its best, the banitsa is a delicious light bite, although it's invariably quite stodgy by the time it reaches the streets. Mlechna banitsa (literally "milk banitsa ") is a richer, sweeter version made using eggs and dusted with icing sugar, while the Rhodopska banitsa , found only in the Rhodopes, is more like a soufflé filled with cheese.

Equally popular is the kifla , a small bread roll usually made from slightly sweetened dough and with a vein of marmalade running through the middle, although you will probably encounter more savoury variants, filled either with cheese ( sâs sirene ), or a small hot-dog-type sausage ( s krenvirsh ). Similar is the sirenka , a small bread bun with a cheese filling. Other favourites among street vendors are ponichki , deep-fried lumps of dough, not unlike doughnuts, and palachinki or pancakes, usually stuffed with cheese.

Street stands also sell grilled snacks, which are the likeliest cause of an upset stomach for travellers. Kebapcheta are wads of mincemeat (traditionally a combination of lamb, pork and veal, although the precise mix depends on what's available) served with a hunk of bread; kyufte is the same in meatball form; while nadenitsa is a spicy sausage. In autumn and winter, vendors emerge peddling corn on the cob ( tsarevitsa ), and throughout the year incorrigible snack-munchers can find solace in the fâstâtsi , or roast nuts, and semki , sunflower seeds, sold everywhere in paper cones.

All these traditional snacks are rivalled in popularity by hot dogs, hamburgers and pizzas , which, with a few honourable exceptions, tend to be revolting. The hot dogs are of doubtful composition and gristly consistency; hamburgers often amount to a slice of luncheon meat on a tepid bun, smothered in ketchup; while pizzas are typically rubbery slices with inferior Bulgarian cheese, ham and fish substituted for mozzarella, salami and anchovies. The same goes for open (usually toasted) sandwiches ( sandvichi ), sold at many kiosks, cafés and bars. Typical toppings are kashkaval , a hard, cheddar-like cheese; salam , an unappetizing slice of pinkish, pork-based meat; kayma , a mincemeat paste; shunka , ham; or kombiniran , a mixture of two or more of the above. Never order any of them without first inspecting what's on offer.

Cakes and pastries are sold throughout the day in a patisserie or sladkarnitsa . Many of Bulgaria's sweet dishes were originally imported from the Middle East by the Turks - the syrupy baklava (referred to in some establishments as a triguna ), the nut-filled revane , and the gooey rich kadaif being the most common. Turkish Delight ( lokum ) and halva are also firm favourites. Betraying a more Central European ancestry are the variety of cakes ( torta ) on offer, with buttercream ( maselna ), fruit ( frukti ) or chocolate ( shokoladova ) filling. Garash , a layered chocolate cake, is the most widely available. Ice cream - sladoled - is sold everywhere on the streets in summer.