BULGARIA, HEAL THYSELF!

Of course. The NYT article (see post, January 13) inadvertently (I have to believe it was inadvertent) denouncing Bulgarian plums and vacation spots has only fueled feelings of low self esteem among Bulgarians. Take a look at this site on Bulgarian cuisine: It starts off with a little quiz:

What do you associate Bulgaria with?
- The fourth place at the World Cup Soccer Finals
- Hristo Stoichkov
- Economical crisis
- Folk music
- Wine
- Nothing

Nothing?? A crisis in the economy?? That’s pretty depressing. And I noticed that plums and vacation spots were also conspicuously absent from the list, as if the authors knew better than to tantalize savvy American/English travelers with such loser options, acceptable only to the East Germans (okay, and the Poles), during the grim 50s.

Let's rally behind Bulgaria. Did you know that they make the best damn Lactobacterium Bulgaricum in the world? Still, it would sound better if they just called it what it is -- yogurt.