For the 12^th time the town of Gorna Oryahovitsa is hosting the festival of its own brand of sausage, known as Gornooryahovski sudzhuk.

The roots of its production go back two centuries. There is even an anecdote about it: One late afternoon at the end of the 19^th century, a group of Bulgarians took an English traveler to their town. He looked around and saw that all houses were shrouded in clouds of smoke “Oh, you’ve got big industry up and running,” he exclaimed. “It’s not that at all,” the Bulgarians answered. “They are all grilling sudzhuk to go with their rakija tonight.“

Times may have changed, and beer has largely taken the place of rakija, but the Gornooryahovski sudzhuk is here to stay. But there is more. It is the first Bulgarian product entered in the European register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications.

The museum of history in Gorna Oryahovitsa houses the only Gornooryahovski Sudzhuk exposition in the country, tracing the entire history of the sudzhuk’s production – from the very beginning down to our day.

Data show that over the first nine years, the Gornooryahovski Sudzhuk Festival was visited by over 50,000 people, who ate close to 10 tons of sausage and drank 30,000 litres of beer. This year’s festival, which offers all kinds of different events – musical, gastronomic, games - is expected to bring in at least as many.