grape leaves, olive oil and stuffed with rice, grilled beef and chopped onions and generally served cold with bread and tarator. Tarator is a cold appetizer and usually served cold as a side dish during the hot summer months. The ingredients of tarator include cucumber, garlic, olive oil, salt and yoghurt. Fried and grilled vegetables and seafood are usually offered with tarator. Large white kidney beans (fasulle plaqi) are a typical appetizer or side dish, baked in an earthen pot with tomatoes, onions, peppermint, oregano, bay leaves and black pepper. A variety of soups are enjoyed, particularly in the winter. Especially popular soups are potato, cabbage, bean and fish soups. Trahana is a popular soup in the Eastern Mediterranean. It based on a fermented mixture of wheat and fermented milk. Other dishes include Groshët and Shqeto, which originated from Lunxheri region of Gjirokastër. Other dishes include mëlci pule, eggplant appetizers, panaret which is famous among Arbëreshës, stuffed peppers composed of green peppers stuffed with rice, meat, other vegetables and herbs, turshi lakre, fried sardele me Limon, papare, which are bread leftovers cooked with water, egg, butter, and Gjizë (salted curd cheese) and bread and cheese referred as Bukë me djathë. Meat and fish The country's cuisine is largely meat-based. Beef and veal are the most commonly consumed meats in Albania, followed by pork. Albania has many small eateries specializing in beef and lamb, goat and veal. In high elevation localities, smoked meat and pickled preserves are common. Animal organs are also used in dishes such as intestines and the head among other parts, which are considered a delicacy. Fresh fish is readily available and caught off the coastal areas of the Adriatic and Ionian Sea inside the Mediterranean Sea but also from the Lake Butrint, Lake Shkodër, Lake Ohrid, Lake Prespa as well as Karavasta Lagoon, Narta Lagoon and Patos Lagoon. Fresh fish is served whole, in the Mediterranean style, grilled, boiled, fried whole or in slices, dressed only with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Fish dishes are often flavoured with white vinegar and virgin olive oil, which particularly grows in Southern Albania. Albanians living on the coastal cities, especially in Durrës, Sarandë and Vlorë are passionate about their seafood specialties. Popular seafood dishes include trout, calamari, octopus, cuttlefish, red mullet, sea bass, gilt-head bream and other. Baked whiting, carp, mullet or eel with olive oil and garlic are also widely