Talk:Banitsa

Cleaning the nonsense out of the article

The article needs citations and sources BADLY as now it's full of nonsense that only someone that has been born and has lived in Bulgaria can notice: 1) Kasmeti (Lucky charms) in a banitsa on Christmas Eve. First, traditionally the food on Christmas Eve is lenten - no meet, no cheese, no milk, no butter, no lard, etc, so that leaves not much kinds of banitsa that can be put on the table. The only sort of banitsa present on the table on that day is Tikvenik - a banitsa filled with pumpkin flesh, cinnamon and sugar, which filling is way too wet to put any "charms" in it. Besides charms aren't traditional at all - nowaydas lucky charms similar to the ones in the Chinese fortune cookies are added in a banitsa on New Years Eve, but this is tradition that has been around for less than ten years. On Christmas Eve there is a simple round bread (Pitka), in which a coin (as a symbol of wealth) and a small piece of cornel-tree branch, usually just the bud (as a symbol of health) are added, and whoever finds one of them in their piece of bread is told to be respectively wealthy or healthy in the following year. 2) The banitsa dough. Much like the Italian pizza, every village and even every housewife used to have a different way of making banitsa, including the dough. However, the most popular dough does not include any eggs, it's based only on flour, water and yeast, as anything else would make the dough too soft and hard to work with. 3) The banitsa fillings. There are many local fillings, but the white cheese filling is nowadays known everywhere in Bulgaria. However, it's worth it to mention the Rhodopes and their potato filling, Strandja and their Zelnik (by the way Zelnik does not mean "banitsa with Zele (cabbage)", it means "banitsa with zeleno (something green)", which refers to everything green that can be put in a banitsa - spinach, nettles, leak, cabbage) or Kyustendil and the traditional egg and cheese filling (and pre-baked sheets) of their banitsa. 4) The cheese filling. The article claimed that the banitsa is filled with Feta cheese. However, as of today, you can't even buy Feta in Bulgaria! In fact, in Bulgaria several kinds of white cheese similar to Feta are made and are all used in banitsa. While this white cheese may remind of Feta, in fact it is not Feta! I couldn't help myself but to edit this.

There is a lot more nonsense in this article, and it obviously was written by somebody that has no clue of Bulgarian cuisine. I'll give them some time to back their claims with real quotes or edit the article in a fashion that will give accurate information instead of something they made up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.86.82.106 (talk) 21:39, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

         Couldn't agree more, but I'm afraid this is a main problem with almost all of bulgarian cuisine articles77.70.114.11 (talk) 13:23, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

Canola oil isn't traditional, either. 174.102.243.129 (talk) 14:31, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

Joined the effort of editing banitsa - added the reconstructed etymology of the word, intend to add references... Denizenn (talk) 17:42, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

Proposed merge of Bougatsa with Banitsa

They are the same no opinion yet on which way the merge should go Spudlace (talk) 21:43, 30 May 2021 (UTC)

Oppose: cultural difference between these dishes, and the articles are appropriately linked. It's cleanest for readers to keep these separate. Klbrain (talk) 16:20, 6 October 2021 (UTC)

Oppose: Almost every culture and regional area has their variation of a fillo, dough-based, pastry often with cheese and other fillings, and there are even many variations of these items within own cultures and countries. If they were merged, that would mean that nearly every separate article about a pastry, danish, dough-based dish would essentially also have to be merged, which would not be appropriate. While the article could possibly be more developed, it doesn't warrant merger — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:46:283:61A0:25EE:4E62:E729:915E (talk) 14:04, 13 November 2021 (UTC)

Closing, given the uncontested objections and no support. Klbrain (talk) 00:55, 7 January 2022 (UTC)

Banitsa in southeastern Serbia

Banitsa is not known as Gibanica in Southeastern Serbia. That name is used in western parts of Serbia and represents another type of pie, and definitelly is unknown in areas bordering Bulgaria. Other name used by locals in Southeastern Serbia is actually Banichka or sukana banitsa. 193.221.199.98 (talk) 11:28, 14 June 2024 (UTC)