The tiny eastern European village overrun by Chinese tourists for its famed snack
How yoghurt is bringing Chinese tourists to Bulgaria in their thousands
- The Bulgarian mountain village of Momchilovtsi annually hosts a unique festival celebrating its local yoghurt, attracting hundreds of Chinese tourists.
- Bulgarian yoghurt is highly popular in China due to its health benefits, with a Chinese dairy company having imported its unique bacteria in 2009 to create the widely sold Mosilian brand.
- The yoghurt contains specific bacteria, including Lactobacillus bulgaricus, which are believed to boost health, immunity, and longevity, and it is considered potentially the world's first probiotic.
- Early 20th-century research by microbiologists Stamen Grigorov and Élie Metchnikoff linked the consumption of this yoghurt to the longer lifespans of Bulgarian peasants.
- Local producers make the yoghurt from both cow's and sheep's milk, with its properties varying seasonally, and long-term residents attest to its daily health benefits.