The local cuisine of the Stara Planina Tourist Region is diverse. Traditionally, like in most regions within the country, countless variations of pastry and their derivatives prevail. The interesting tastes come to a great extent from the way of cooking because ceramics is highly developed in the region and allows slow cooking of the food.
The dry-cured ham from the town of Elena (Elenski but) is one of the regional delicacies. It is prepared from pork and its name, i.e. "Elenski", come from the town of Elena. This delicacy is specific for the technology of its preparation and the climatic peculiarities of the region. The meat delicacies also include the popular Gorna Oryahovitsa Flat-Sausage and Pot.
The Gabrovo region is especially proud with a product called "Gabrovo chocolate", and simply "pestil" by the locals. The international recognition of this product is also due to its participation in the Terra Madre Exhibitions in Turin, Italy. It is included in the international book The Ark of Taste, presenting unique foods. The dishes with snails are also a specialty for the region. There are multiple traditional dishes – snails with rice, with nettle, sour grass, spinach or spring onions, battered, with tomato juice or as meat balls. Due to the nature of the region, mushrooms are another popular product there, and in recent years, the mountains near Teteven and Tryavna became very popular among truffle hunters.
The Teteven region is getting even more famous as a culinary destination with the fish soup called Teteven brine, which is made with different kinds of small river fish and river crabs, unique for the Teteven region. Undoubtedly, the green cheese from the village of Cherni Vit is another regional treasure and you can get a variant of the fish soup in the so-called "Glozhenska mora".
The North-Western region defends its popularity through the torlak cuisine - bel muzh (fresh, processed cheese), lyutica, dried peppers stuffed with beans, as well as grohchano (diced pork with onion), sour ,,kosachko'' (a torlak dish). The Torlak folklore festival "Kada kum prase i ti vrechu" is held annually.