Bulgarian Food

I'll be interested in the answers! I'll be moving to BG and it's one of the things which concern me. I'm a big meat eater and on visits looking at property ets have always found the meat very tough. Vegetables though look much better than we get in the UK

One thing is for sure, Bulgaria is not known for its cuisine.
Dont get me wrong, I like it here and many a thing I do love.
I have few favourites like shopska salad but that in itself does not make it a culinary experience.
Maybe a bit like the food in the UK 30 years ago.
Drab, drab and well, medicro at best.

I'm glad to hear the vegies look good. I'm also moving to Bulgaria and, as a vegetarian, I'm hoping not to find it too challenging.

Bulgarian cuisine is amazingly tasty! Fruits and vegetables are of great quality and that really reflects on the dishes. There are quite a lot of vegan and vegetarian options too which I really appreciate. Recently I have discovered this blog with very interesting Bulgarian recipes but not only. You can use google translator as I do. supichka.com

My favourites: Bob chorba (bean soup), leshta (lentils), Sarmi (stuffed cabbage or grape leaves).

Dober apetit

I actually wrote a Bulgarian cookbook with my language tutor about two years ago, and I would definitely say that if you think Bulgarian food is drab, then you are not eating in the right places!

One awesome thing is that for such a small country, it has so many regional differences in its food. For instance, up north they pickle okra, but down in the Plovdiv area it is mostly made in stews...

Sirmi, for sure... but I have had them made with the normal cabbage leaves or grape leaves OR wrapped in flowers from squash plants.

I have found the best meat dishes here are usually the stews... slow cooked all day with veggies- and I would definitely go with rabbit or sheep meat. Quality beef is difficult to find. I, personally, am not a huge fan of pork.

I have to say I love the pastries- not a huge fan of most banitsa, but I do love tikvinik (pumpkin banitsa), an I absolutely love a good melinki with lyutenitsa in the morning!!!

I was a vegetarian when I moved here... there are definitely a ton of options for vegetarians, if you make your own food or go to restaurants.

The hardest part for me was that Bulgarians kept making me 'special dishes' that include meat... and then there is the, "but chicken isn't meat... but fish isn't meat" attitude as well. I eventually gave up But if you stick to your guns, it is possible to be a healthy, well-fed vegetarian here.

Love the food, from peppers stuffed with feta, shopska salad, a simple chicken soup, and breads, to a fatastic meat stew, mixed meat kebabs, knuckle of roast beef, blue cheese stuffed mushrooms, and the satch/sach don't know how it is spelt but it is a 2 person dish served in a clay pot with potato,onion,carrot,peppers,tomato,lemon wedges, bacon, sausage,meats,chicken,pork etc... in a herb gravy mmmmmm!!! Bit too fond of those little sweet coffees!!! Plus all beers,wines, and vodka seem ok from experience ha-ha!  The mix of Turkish and Greek dishes blend in with Eastern European dishes, there is a large use of fresh herbs, dill seems favoured with olive oils, it is more flavoursome than spicy, yoghurt style dips and dressings are also served with most meals, you will not go hungry here!
Cheers Steve. (p.s now I'm starving!)

Yes, I went through a lot of situations like "Chicken or fish isn't meat" sor of.  As a vegan, going to the traditional Mehana, means limiting the menu to French fries or a salad. Luckily there are every day more restaurants with vegetarian and vegan dishes. For all the vegetarians/vegans I do recommend a site called HappyCow. It is a web page where you can check all the restaurants in the country offering veggie options and its reviews. It was quite helpful for me And yeah...lutenitsa with a good slice of bread is definitely the best breakfast ever

CristinaP wrote:

Yes, I went through a lot of situations like "Chicken or fish isn't meat" sor of.  As a vegan, going to the traditional Mehana, means limiting the menu to French fries or a salad. Luckily there are every day more restaurants with vegetarian and vegan dishes. For all the vegetarians/vegans I do recommend a site called HappyCow. It is a web page where you can check all the restaurants in the country offering veggie options and its reviews. It was quite helpful for me And yeah...lutenitsa with a good slice of bread is definitely the best breakfast ever

Hi, I am living in Shumen for a 9 month teaching contract and as a vegetarian, there really aren't any healthy options for me here at restaurants. Salads while ok are ususally very limited in ingredients and small in portion size and don't include any type of protein like beans, nuts, seeds, tofu (I realize I'm not in Asia. They have it at grocery stores which is a big plus). I do eat fish from time to help which helps but I haven't gone anywhere here in Shumen for fish, just to Varna or other coastal towns.

When I asked some of my local students what is meant when a hotel or restaurant says they have international cuisine, they said that means hamburgers and pizza. Lol. This isn't the big city of Sofia. So, outside of the big cities, there's not much of a choice.

We're also vegetarian and on multiple visits to Bg have loved the food! We've found it very easy to get ready made vegetarian meals in bigger supermarkets with deli counters, because there are so many fast days in the Orthodox Church when observant Orthodox folk choose to abstain from animal flesh. During Lent and Advent there are far more veggie dishes available pre-cooked. Even tiny supermarkets almost always have the huge white beans in a tasty tomato sauce that are so good with fresh bread (and some crumbled sirene if you eat dairy)! And for cooking at home, the markets have loads of different varienties of beans, chickpeas, and nuts, plus wonderful seasonal veggies.
There aren't the range of fake meats now flooding UK shops, none at all I saw, but with the fabulous other veggie foods available, they won't be missed.
Also if you eat dairy, the Bulgarian cheeses and yoghurts are soooooooo good!
Do agree that restauarants aren't always so easy to eat out at as a vegetarian, though we've had the same experience with restaurants in most countries we've travelled to.

I really enjoy the Bulgarian food, I find the fresh fish and fresh vegetables/salads especially good... and, of course, the cheesy bread (parlenka).

By coincidence, I was just looking for a Thai restaurant yesterday... I suddenly fancied a green curry! So maybe variety is a bit of a weakness, as mostly I see Bulgarian-style restaurants. But not so hard to find Turkish, Greek, Italian.

I lived in London for a couple of years, and eating out there cost a small fortune! So a big plus of Bulgaria is the relatively low cost of restaurant meals. We don't eat out often, but I find we now go to the best restaurants in the area, which is quite a treat.

Try going to the best rated restaurants in the UK or Spain or France, and you will spend a lot on your meal. On a recent Sunday, I took a scenic motorcycle ride up Shipka Pass and across to the Buzludzha monument (the big spaceship thinggie at 1,500m). This is quite a touristy spot, and there's a very nice hotel nearby.

I had my Sunday lunch there on their balcony overlooking the garden, in the cool/shade of the forest. I treated myself to the most expensive dish on the menu (fresh mountain trout grilled on the barbeque), plus a fresh shopska salad, plus a parlenka, plus a large bottle of water. Very simple, very Bulgarian... but excellent. And only 15 euros.

And it's not just in tourist spots. I was very surprised to find that my neighbouring village (Enina) also has an exceptional restaurant, that you'd be happy to find in any big city.

Last time we went up to the bright lights of the big city (Plovdiv for us), we had two great lunches in two excellent restaurants (one Italian, the other Greek) that we realized were near our apartment in Hristo Smirnenski. Downtown Plovdiv (Kapana area) has a number of super restaurants.

There are fresh produce markets in both Kazanlak and Plovdiv, which we enjoy as a change of scene. But I find Lidl's produce very good too. And the supermarket shopping bill is significantly cheaper here than in my old UK ASDA, or our local Lidl in Spain.

At the other end of the scale, my village neighbours give me garden-grown tomatoes, cucumbers, walnuts, and grapes. Fabulous! And the Kazanlak produce market has a popular chicken shack where he does a whole rotisserie chicken and a fresh loaf of bread for 10 leva.

Overall, we eat much better here than we have done anywhere else for a long time. Maybe the last time I enjoyed my food so much was in Buenos Aires, when the currency crisis meant we could enjoy the famous Argentine grass-fed beef in Puerto Madero for pennies. But there it was either pizza, empanadas, or beef... I don't remember veggies getting much of a look in!

I enjoy a lot of things here.  The abundance of pork/bacon/ham in everything though is a bit of a bummer.  I don't like pork meat at all.  I'll see a dish with chicken or a burger that sounds nice and it has bacon in it.  I know that's a thing in the UK too but it seems to be even more abundant here. 

I really like the blueberry crossaint type things that they sell in Kaufland.  They taste wonderful cut open with salted butter (lidl British butter) and strong cheddar or gouda cheese.

I also enjoy banitsa, especially the one that contains spinach as well as cheese.

Mish Mash has to be my favorite Bulgarian dish.  It's egg, white cheese, tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic herbs and spices all baked together.  I have been making it myself and eating it with my own golden vegetable rice recipe. 

I think Aladdin foods in Varna and Sofia is very good and I very much enjoy eating at Happy. Their Tom yum chicken at the moment is amazing.  They also did this plate of roasted carrots with dip and it was delicious

[Homer voice]
Mmmmm... bacon.

:-)

Hi everyone, it's been really interesting for me to see so many opinions on Bulgarian cuisine and so few dishes. Really !!! How can you judge for a whole country's culinary traditions, when you have tasted one salad and 2-3 main dishes ??? And have the bravery to express an "opinion". And please bear in mind, that you're speaking for culinary traditions of some 3000 years and even more. Or as a friend of mine once said "It is funny to understand, that your grand grand  mother's wardrobe is older than the entire history of the USA" .....
Anyway, before forming an opinion, or daring to express one, I would strongly recommend trying at least the following dishes, and they should really be cooked in the proper way:

Vegetarian ones:
1. Banitza with airan
2. Tikvenik
3. Patatnik
4. Bob chorba
5. Bob po manastirski
6. Liutenitza
7. Shopska salad
8. Thracian salad
9. Ovcharska salad (shepherd's style)
10. Roasted pepper salad with cheese
11. Kiopoolu
12. Sarmi (lozovi and zelevi)
13. Gevrek
14. Milinka
15. Katmi - Thracian style / similar to thick pancakes with rich filling/
16. Fried eggs with green onions
17. Turshia ( at least 30 different styles)
18. Stuffed red peppers with rice
19. Mekitzi
20. Kus-kus

Meat dishes:
1. Lukanka
2. Pastarma
3. Elena fillet
4. Agneshko po Gergiovdenski (Lamb in St. George day's style)
5. Kapama - Thracian style
6. Kapama - Bankso style
7. Pecheno prasentze (roasted pig)
8. Musaka
9 Bob s nadenitza (beans with sausages)
10. Eggs in Panagiurishte style
11. Stuffed carp
12. Kiufteta (fried/baked meat balls)
13. Kebapche
14. Pile kasha - Thracian style ( Chicken )
15. Vinen kebap
16. Shekembe v maslo
17. Teleshka glava v maslo (Veal head in butter)
18. Pastarva na keremida (Trout in a roof tile - Balkanka)
19. Rabbit with rice
20. Giuvetdjeta ( also has a vegetarian style)
21. Meshena skara (mixed baked meat)
22. Chomlek (veal)
23. Drob sarma


Soups:
1. Tarator
2. Lentice soup
3. Chicken soup
4. Fish soup ( Danube region or Black sea region only)
5. Tripe soup
6. Lamb soup
7. Mushroom soup
8. Teleshko vareno /veal and potatoes soup/
9. Rabbit soup
10. Summer vegetables soup

Desert:
1. Svilengradsko malebi
2. Sladko ot smokini
3. Homemade cookies cake
4. Rose petals jar
5. Blue plums in a jar
6. Kurabii
7. Kadaif
8. Revane
9. Tolumbichka
10. Gris halva
11. Tahan halva
12. Lokum
13. Sladka banitza
14. Yoghurt with honey and wallnuts
15. Baked pumpkin with honey and wallnuts
16. Mliako s oriz i kanela (milk with rice and canela)
17. Makaroni na furna
18. Rachel
19. Krem caramel
20. Baklava


Drinks:
1. Boza
2. Airan
3. Rakia (grozdova, slivova, kaisieva)
4. Mavrud wine
5. Melnishko vino (Melnik wine, Shiroka melnishka loza)
6. Kompot
7. Mastika
8. Oblak ( pepperminth and mastika cocktail)
9. Shira
10. Fermented cabbage juice

Starters:
1. Apetitka - Thracian style
2. White cheese
3. Kashkaval (yellow cheese)
4. Katak cheese
5. Snejanka salad
6. Katino meze
7. Kavarma in Radomir style
8. Sirene po Shopski (Shopski style cheese)
9. Sazdarma
10. Mursalski chai

That's enough for the moment. And I strongly believe that this is the basics of the traditional Bulgarian cuisine. Having tried these dishes several times and at different locations, you can finally form an opinion on the Bulgarian cuisine and probably even express one without making a huge mistake. So go for it.  ..... Oh, shall I remind, that top tourist locations are not always a good choice to try traditional dishes!

https://littlebg.com/25-tradicionni-bg-qstia/

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Bulgarian food is bland. 
Even the Paprika potato chip taste only mildly stronger than the salted version. 
Maybe ive just eaten too much: 
vindaloo,
chicken tikka masala,
Lamb bhuna,
Duck with green Pepper and Black bean Sauce,
Jamaican Patty,
bleu cheese and
Black blood pudding.

Come on BG....   Spice up ya life!   

Give it time for your taste buds to calm down Polly,it's maybe as you say not the food but rather an insensitive palate?🥮

mandymouse4 wrote:

Give it time for your taste buds to calm down Polly,it's maybe as you say not the food but rather an insensitive palate?🥮

LOL, i have been here for almost 4 years now...   I just learnt to make those foods myself ...   so i think i'm in for the long hall. 
I'm not really a foodie.  I have to keep myself interested in food.  It is quite an effort for me....  or i just begin to have no appetite and start to lose too much weight....   and there is not much to me as it is.
I grew up in Birmingham, UK in the 1980s.  So, i was buying hot and spicy samosas on the way home from school each day....   I guess, you can take the girl out of the Midlands...   but you can't take the Midlands out of the girl!

I'm from Belfast and just retired,my partner is Bulgarian so I have been over quite a few times and love it there.
Love the coffee shops and restaurants however,we are not jabbed so out of bounds to us which is nonsense as well as sinister.
I will be over again soon.

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I very recently found smoked paprika in the supermarket! A great find for my goulashes 😊

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It's true, although the Bulgarian food is of a good fresh quality...   it is bland and options are very narrow.
Your comment on Cheese is fair.  Where are the hard chesses? Where are the Blue chesses?  Where are the chesses flavored with peppers of garlic?

Paprika is available but it is always sweet or smoked or both... it's very  difficult to find hot!

Bulgarians love sweet over hot and spicy.  You only have to go to a coffee vending machine to see this.
Coffee with 2 sugars is the default.  If you want no sugar you have to dial down the sugar controls.
You also see this in the magazines.  You can easily buy 3in1 (coffee with creamer and sugar).  But try buy 2in1 (coffee with creamer and No sugar!) and if you can find it....   you will pay more for it.

And as for meat...  Don't get me started.  I live close to a small town.  Go to the butcher and all you see is pork and chicken.
No beef, no lamb, no mutton, no venison, no duck... occasionally they have turkey...   but even the pork options are narrow...  no belly pork, no sliced cured bacon and very difficult to buy any pork cuts with the skin on...  i.e. no pork scratchings.
It must be very difficult if you are a Muslim or a Jew living in Bulgaria.  The only meat you can have is chicken.

As for fish, can't buy Alaskan pollock, Haddock, cod...   no scollops, no crab, no lobster. well not unless you go to a German supermarket in a big city.

I don't understand it.  I love the Bulgarian culture and the people... and the country as a whole, It truly is heaven on earth....  but for goodness sake Bulgaria, pull your diet out of the Communist 1950s

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Yes Evtra, maybe it is the love of alcohol more than lack of funds.  I live on 60 euro per week and i eat well and still enjoy a beer. 
And... i would still sooner buy a 500ml beer in a glass bottle for 1.20 lev
than buy 2 litres of the same beer in a plastic bottle for 2.40 lev   
And my Bulgarian friends call me stupid for that.
But beer tastes better in glass than in plastic and although i am on a tight budget, i'll always choose quality over quantity, any day.  (a concept that seems strange to the average Bulgarian)

That said...  it is about having good connections too...  if it was not for the Turkish minorities i would really struggle for good meat

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It is fun to see the total ignorance about Bulgarian cuisine being displayed here in an arrogant and rude manner ... or even more, disrespect for the local traditions and tastes is presented truly and openly as if this country should feel guilty for s.o. who for strange reasons has arrived to live here (often lack of job, lack of funds or lack of education and capabilities, inability to buy a house in his country) and feels angry that his likes, preferences and tastes are not met by the local cuisine/shops or even taste. And this is not even having checked all nearby shops.

But yes, my favourite is the instruction to spice up the liutenitza, when in reality this starter has at least 50 different tastes, 1/3 of which are spicy.

Actually this is a really good display of some people's ignorance, disrespect and arrogance.

Why don't you people just go home, enjoy hard cheese, fish, spicy food and pork stripes + high salaries, abundance of funds and everything else? 

Complaining constantly and about everything is really pitiful and a deep and total internal conflict. How can you live like this for years ? 

It is just about 30 EUR to buy a CHEAP plane ticket and fly to every point of Europe (where LOWCOST airlines reach).

Stop complaining and make a decision ... Go back to the places where plastic bottles were invented, where soy protein and palm oil was used for the first time to make cheese, where all vegetables taste the same and where all people live on 10 000 EUR per week. Heaven on Earth is there, what are you doing in Bulgaria ?

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Thank you for your input kristiann.  I truly appreciate your honesty and input.  But if you read my posts...  i clearly state

"I love the Bulgarian culture and the people... and the country as a whole, It truly is heaven on earth....  "

but i also say

"for goodness sake Bulgaria, pull your diet out of the Communist 1950s"

I have traveled through all of Europe. You can buy Italian food in France. You can buy Polish food in Germany, you can buy Moroccan food in Portugal and you can buy both Jamaican as well as Bulgarian food in England. 
But Bulgaria is mostly Bulgarian food.  No world food! Just Bulgarian food.
I can't buy Taiwanese food here.  And even Turkish food is not easy to buy.

Wherever i have lived i have always eaten world foods.  And i always will.
But i mostly eat Indian, Chinees, and Jamaican food (not English and not Bulgarian). 
I was born in England but my father is Algerian.... and i don't like Algerian food either! (Although Moroccan Couscous is OK)

So where should i go and live kristiann? Where should i go live?
You are upset because i don't like Bulgarian food?  How do you think my father felt because i don't like Algerian food?   You think he never spoke to me for all of my life because his food was bland?
I eat Bulgarian food as often as i eat English food. (Not very often!)

Your rant wont change that. But that does not mean i do not think it is of good quality. 
In fact much of the vegetables and meats contain less additives and GMOs than most of the other food goods in the rest of Europe.   
So, it does not matter where i live. 
Because that's what i think, and that is my taste.

So i'll live in my nice little Bulgarian house (bought and paid for)...  And spend my small British Army pension (given to me in pounds) in the Bulgarian economy.  And i'll make my own Indian, Jamaican and Chinese foods, from local produce.   

But why Bulgaria does not want to broaden it's horizons is beyond me.
World food is big business...   it would attract more tourists. 

Maybe the original poster PumpkinPie
should have said "only say good things because we don't like honest people"  Right?

I like the way that you are passionate about your country Kristian there is nothing wrong with this.I too love Bulgaria even though I am Irish and my girlfriend is Bulgarian.
However, the people who commented also love Bulgaria and it even looks like they are planning to stay.
I feel that their comments are not negative but constructive criticism and it would be great for Bulgaria if some importers would take their views on board.
Having said that, what about these people themselves starting a business in this respect, worth thinking about folks?

Thanks for the suggestion of setting up a business mandymouse4, it's a very good idea... but i'm retired now. I've done my bit already.  Although i often ask myself, why i even bothered. 
Maybe Europe would have been a better place if my sort had let the Afghans and the Iraqis win.
At least we would have nice food!
Heads on sticks anyone?

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I really read very well your post PottyPolly,

but it doesn't sound that nice. Could you please ask yourself some questions, re: "for goodness sake Bulgaria, pull your diet out of the Communist 1950s" :

1. What do you know about the Communist times diet ?  I will tell you what I've seen there - markets had a strict control, everywhere was a laboratory testing everything for nitrates and other harmful substances, you could not sell a single tomato without a quality certificate and laboratory testing. Now there's no testing at all.

2. We ate the most delicious, tasty and healthy fruit and vegetables, free from polutions, chemicals, GMO and any other modifications. All brands and variants were made locally and everyone could easily check which brand in which scientific institute was created.

3. Milk was sold in glass bottles, yoghurt was sold in glass jars, Coca Cola was only in glass bottles, plastic packing was largely avoided, paper and cardboard packing were encouraged and recycling too.

4. Almost all fruit and vegetables sold here were from local producers - all the tomatoes, all the cucumbers, all the carrots, zuccini, pumpkins, papricas, grapes, apples, melons, watermelons, potatoes, eggplants, garlic, parsley, auberdines, cabbage, peaches, strawberries, blackberries, bluberries, raspberries, cherries,   etc .....   and now just 1/10 of this is made here - potatoes from Egypt, carrots and tomatoes from Turkey, grapes from God knows where. And during communist times only bananas, kiwis, lemons, annanas types of fruit were imported.

5. Meat was widely accessible for all layers of the population. Hens, chicken etc. grew for 5-6 months and not like now for three or even 2 monts, stuffed with hormons and antibiotics.

6. Same applies for bread, when it was made from high quality wheat, which is now primarily exported.
Any other products did not contain additives, palm oil, glutamate and other shit which is now more than widely used.

7. Bio and Organic class of food was the type of food my grandmother grew in her garden, and I ate this. Tasty and healthy.

8. Are you concerned about the diet of an entire nation, or it is just your own specific requirements ?

So you know little or nothing about the communist era foods and yet dare to use it as a comparison. Yes it was not as abundant, yes it was not compiled from all parts of the world, but it was tasty and healthy, and that is the most important thing. And it was accessible to everyone.

I don't care what you eat - Indian, Chineese, Jamaican .... MARTIAN food. That is your decision, your preference and your problem.

I don't even care where you live - UK, Algeria, Bulgaria, this is again your decision, as long as this country has given you the right to live here - with the sun in the summer, and the snow in winter and the gorgeous springs and autumns. Not the constant rain and clouds.

But I do care if you are trying to blame s. o. for not running to satisfy your needs, whims and likes. That is not our job, nor aim and for sure not our purpose in life. It is better to be grateful for what you get here, and whatever else yoú're missing - there's AMAZON.

We don't care where you spend your pension, or how big or small it is. This doesn't affect BG economy. We don't care about attracting tourists - I do not own a hotel, or a resort, or even an tourist agency. That is their problem.  And if they decide to open a Chineese restaurant, or a Jamaican one - this is their decision, and it is normally based on the competitive advantage it would bring. But in my opinion low cost toursits from the UK are more interested in cheap alcohol, cheap sausages and cheap salads, than in Chineese restaurants, while the high class tourist go to Golf resorts and again need no Chineese food.

This "But why Bulgaria does not want to broaden it's horizons is beyond me."  is so much out of place ... so much out of time and so much out of business. You just cannot blame it on the entire country, on the entire nation and on every single city.  This is a single business decision.

Not to say how dull it would be to advertise the tourist destinations in Bulgaria together with Chinese restaurants and Norwegian fish......

By the way, here in Bulgaria live many people from China, from India, from Afghanistan, from Germany, from Spain, from God knows where .... why they do not complain and do not accuse the local cuisine ? Why should we take care of your requests and not of their ?

Actually we would take care of no one's whims. This is our country, our taste and our life. And it's a Big World.........

EVTRA wrote:

We actually started a little chat about opening a small business to fill the void...and escape the green pass jail. I had a business idea already in my mind, maybe the limitations will bring the opportunity.

PM me if you do EVTRA.... and you are willing to send from Sofia to Dve Mogili via Econt.  I already buy from https://www.supermag.bg/ in sofia.  But they will only send dry, packet, tinned and/or non perishables via Econt.  But that's ok cos i get my perishables from the local bazre.

The only constructive criticism here is your mandymouse4.

Some of these people here already live in Bulgaria for more than 4 years and never stopped complaining, judging, accusing, crying, giving qualifications, insulting  ... instead of going back to Italy for example.

Opening a business is easier to say than to do. Besides it is a very poor business logic to import from a higher priced market to a lower priced one and from several hunderds of millions of customers to just 6-7 here.

Normally the correct business decision works just the opposite....

@kristiann
You don't care?
So why are you on a forum for expats? 
If your not a foreigner living abroad? 
Do you not feel like a duck out of water?

PottyPolly wrote:

@kristiann
You don't care?
So why are you on a forum for expats? 
If your not a foreigner living abroad? 
Do you not feel like a duck out of water?

He is an Expert on the Forum to give help and advice, that is why he is on the forum. I completely agree with everything he has said.