2024-08-03 11:41:41
The consumption of fish products in Bulgaria remains at the same level, while the consumption of meat products grows by over 40%
Bulgaria is in one of the last places in the EU in terms of fish consumption, the sales of which have been continuously decreasing in the last few years, while the consumption of meat is growing. This is shown by NSI data.
From 2020 until now, regardless of the crazy prices of basic food products, the consumption of meat in our country has increased by 6.3%, and of meat products – salami, canned food, etc. – even with 41%.
However, the consumption of fish and fish products continues to remain at almost the same levels – about 6 kg per quarter per household member (see the infographic).
According to experts, there are two main explanations for the low consumption of fish. One is the lack of tradition, and the other is related to the prices of fish and fish products, which have risen much more than those of meat recently.
“For decades, Bulgaria owned a fleet of ocean trawlers that crossed the world’s oceans and brought in fish at very favorable prices. So the Bulgarian got used to thinking that
fish is cheaper than meat
but there is currently no such catch. There is not much to offer, not to mention that we do not have much of a tradition in the consumption of fish”, Prof. Kostadin Vassilev, head of the Department of Meat and Fish Technology at the University of Food Technology in Plovdiv.
Due to its more special storage regime, small catch and low production, not much variety of fish is offered in our market. Its price, which is generally higher than that of meat, is currently even higher.
Even a cursory comparison of these products in stores shows that fish, wherever it is imported or harvested, is significantly more expensive than meat. For example, salmon with skin, which is grown in fishponds and fed with granules, already costs 42 BGN per kilo, and in the stores of the big chains, where it is generally cheaper.
Real wild salmon, which is only available in specialist fish shops, often
sold at 60 and even 70 BGN per kilo
For comparison, even the most expensive pork – the sirloin – costs less than BGN 20 per kilo, wherever it is bought.
Trout, which is also grown in fishponds here, and not imported from distant seas, cannot be bought for less than BGN 23 per kilo. A whole fresh carp often costs about BGN 20 per kilo, and the carp fillet is even sold for over BGN 30.
Marine fish, which are almost entirely imported, are even more expensive, even if we are not talking about very exotic species. For example
fresh sea bass in our country costs over 42 BGN per kilogram,
cod fillet is over BGN 28, only mackerel has kept the “decent” price of BGN 16 per kilo. On the other hand, even in large hypermarkets, a tuna fillet costs around BGN 60.
The prices of fish come out too high if you take into account that fresh fish is usually sold with only the entrails removed. But when the head is removed and cleaned of the scales and skin, too little of it can be put on the plate.
This is the main trick that is often used in restaurants in our country. If the menu says that, for example, bream costs BGN 50 per kilo, it should be taken into account that this is its price as a fresh, uncleaned fish. However, the fillet on the plate is significantly more expensive.
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, the annual catch in our country – from the Black Sea, from the Danube River and the dams,
is about 15 tons per year
Another 15 tons are grown in fishponds. If we add the import – most often from Greece, which is about 50 tons, we receive about 80 tons per year.
But the Bulgarian does not consume all this amount. The fish grown in our country is almost entirely exported. Last year, for example, our export was 14 tons.
For Burgasians, sprats were cat food, now they are super appetizers
Only once every 4-5 years the sea overflows with fish and then the price is bearable
Since the 1990s, the price of fish has risen so much that Burgasians considered some species to be cat food, but now they serve as their main appetizer. For example, in 1988, sprat cost 60 cents per kilo, now it reaches 5 BGN.
At the end of the 80s, the safrid, which then served as an appetizer for beer, was sold for BGN 1.20-1.30, but now it fetches prices from BGN 7 upwards. Popcheto has become a delicacy with its August price of BGN 16.
Residents of Burgas still remember how, years ago, on the weekend, fish was delivered to them on foot – dark-skinned fishermen in sailor’s shirts walked between the apartment blocks and sold fresh fish from tins. Now it’s just a memory, and so are the low prices.
“For one kilogram of safrid, I will buy a kilogram of meat and cook it for at least two meals,” commented the housewives. They don’t even think about a shield. The king flatfish rarely falls below BGN 35 per kilo, while it used to be bought for BGN 5 at most. Now it is available mostly in restaurants, but at BGN 25 for 200 grams.
Despite the overall increase in the cost of living in our country, fish has not increased as much as other goods. However, the Bulgarians have changed their taste habits, comments the old sea wolf Dimitar Yanchev, informal mayor of the fishing village Chengene Skele near Burgas.
The menus in the departmental and workers’ chairs, where they exist, also speak for the decreased consumption of fish. Until 20 years ago, Tuesdays and Fridays were fish days, now they are gone. Pubs and traps by the sea, which otherwise offer chicken milk, do not have many fish products. The Bulgarian catches up with the consumption of fish mainly in the summer, when he is on vacation in Greece. The cherished squid and octopus there are in larger quantities than the Bulgarian portions and at the same price.
Only in October and November does the consumption of fish in Burgas jump. Then the sea boils with chernokop and lefer, and their price drops dramatically. Burgas residents still remember 2015, when the delicacy chernokop fell to BGN 3 per kilo and half the city filled their freezers with it for months to come. However, such harvests happen rarely, every 4-5 years, and sometimes even a decade passes until an abundance of cheap fish appears.
Omega-3 fatty acids, phosphorus, vitamins that the body cannot produce and must obtain from the outside – these and a number of other useful substances are contained in fish.
Many doctors and nutritionists recommend the consumption of fish once a week and preferably twice a week. There are statistics that peoples who have the prerequisites to harvest and eat more fish and seafood have a higher average life expectancy, with less cardiovascular and cancer diseases and generally – with better general health.
An important recommendation is that the fish is prepared in a healthy way in order to preserve its beneficial ingredients as much as possible – on the plate, on the grill, in the oven, or steamed.