Shkembe Soup

I was sitting in the break room the other morning before work listening to my coworkers start up a conversation about Shkembe soup. They were going on and on about this soup, talking about how good it is, and how good it is for you, and how much they love to eat it. Bulgarians just love the stuff. Its as close to a national dish as you can get without officially declaring it a national dish (which may have actually already happened, but I don't know about it). Listening to my counterpart describe Shkembe, this soup sounds like the end all of soups. Its delicious, nutritious, cheap, and is guaranteed to cure hangovers. Its best served hot, or slightly cold, and for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Its pretty much the Bulgarian equivalent of Mac & Cheese. What more could you ask?

Well, as with many a big-name summer blockbuster movie, it turns out that this soup may be a bit over-hyped. I realized something was suspicious when I first saw a bowl of this much revered elixir. At first glance it is not the most appealing nourishment, and at second glance, it is still not the most appealing nourishment. In fact, after a carefully executed scientific study, I have concluded that no matter how many times you see shkembe, it will never become more appealing, and actually runs the risk of becoming increasingly less so.

(mmm, look at all that flavor)

That being said, I have loved many a dish that didn't look the best, but that made up for it with taste. At this point I was still giving Shkembe soup the benefit of the doubt, that is, until I found out what Shkembe means. Its from the Turkish word for tripe. For those of you who don't know what tripe is (I also had no idea what this word meant), it pretty much means mixed stomach parts. So, shkembe soup can roughly translated as 'insert animal name here' stomach soup. Yup, just like mom used to make. Shkembe soup is made out of any animal that happens to be available at the time. Pig, cow, chicken, goat, mastodon, you name it, its probably in that bowl of soup.

A point of pride that I have with myself is that I'm always up for trying something once; heck, I even ate brain sandwiches from a street-side vendor in Cairo, which is about as sketchy as one can get, but I have to admit that I have still never tried the shkembe soup. There is something about it that every time I muster up the confidence and resolve to delve in to a bowl of it, it still manages to fend me off that the last minute. And as for the claim that it is the perfect cure for a hangover, well, let me just say that I have no reservations that it would forcefully induce the immediate evacuation of any remaining alcholol (and other contents) from my stomach, but I doubt the validity of the claim that it would work toward ameliorating the lasting effects of already absorbed booze. In fact, I can only envision this specific concoction as making the situation (and my relative health) worse. I know these statements come off as rather strong, especially when I have admitted the fact that I have never actually tried this dish, but they perfectly convey my opinion of the matter.


However, I appreciate the argument that to fully understand a dish, it must be actually tasted, so for the sake of an un-biased control group, I have devised a plan to feed this dish to my younger brother, whom I expect to arrive on vacation in this country sometime this summer (Mom, if you are reading this blog, please, in the name of science and human understanding, refrain from telling him about this, as it would completely ruin this plan. I promise, whatever may happen, he won't die from it). Upon conclusion of this trial, I will appraise you of the results so that you too can decide, with all the data at your disposal, what you actually think of this horrid soup.

I don't mean to give the wrong impression of Bulgarian food in general, because many of the dishes here are fantastic and I reckon that the vegetables are second to none, but shkembe may be one of the worst dishes that I have ever been introduced with. I also realize that, after living in this country for about a year and a half, it may seem random that I have only just now brought this up, but it was hearing the conversation between my coworkers in the break room that prompted me to ponder this food once more. So, if you ever happen to find yourself in a Bulgarian restaurant and you see shkembe on the menu, order something else.