site.btaZelnik of Kyustendil Region Nominated for Living Human Treasures

The zelnik, a traditional cabbage pie, is the nomination of Kyustendil Region for the Living Human Treasures - Bulgaria programme in 2024. The nomination was presented by the Saglasie 2007 People's Community Centre in the village of Zhabokrat.

The zelnik was a traditional food for farm workers in past times, Tatyana Grigorova from the village told BTA. "People had servants who worked in the fields, and the landlady cooked zelnik for them. It is made of a dough base and filling, which was quite filling. They washed it down with cold soup made of garlic, cucumbers, vinegar and water, which they drank to cool them down in the summer heat," said Krasimira Nikolova, another craftswoman of the village.

While it looks much like the staple Bulgarian cheese pie banitsa, zelnik is quite different. Zelnik uses hand-made dough which is kneaded and then rolled into sheets that are crumpled and beautifully arranged. The filling has cabbage and cornmeal. "The stuffing of the zelnik is one of the keys in the preparation", Nikolova emphasized. "It requires more time, and it also requires skill. Not everyone make it. The steps in the preparation must be followed exactly. It must be passed on to the young. As we get older, they will knead for us," says the craftswomen.

The traditional zelnik takes at least four hours of skill, measure and love to make it.

The Living Human Treasures - Bulgaria, which is part of the Living Human Treasures UNESCO programme, is organized by the Culture Ministry and encourages the bearers of intangible cultural heritage to practice the activities and pass on knowledge and skills to the next generations. The programme is carried out in two stages - regional and national. The activities or skills offered for registration must be from the spheres of manifestation of the intangible cultural heritage, according to the National Register of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.