In 1993, I loved Sucanat, an organic dehydrated cane juice which easily replaces brown sugar, so much that, after converting many of my family recipes to include it and creating distinctive new recipes specifically for the product, I discovered I had enough recipes to create a small cookbook.

The trademarks of Bulgarian cuisine, like those of its Mediterranean cousins, are slow cooking and use of fresh vegetables. Its wonderful pastries have been influenced by the nearby Austro-Hungarians. Also, having endured 500 years under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire, Bulgarian cooks inherited the best of Turkish influences.

An independent cookbook author like myself, Astrid Karlsen Scott has written a wonderful book about her native cuisine. She loves to go to Scandinavian fares to sell her book and meet her customers, but you can also order it directly from her.