Cyprus: A Jewel of Culinary Traditions
We’re just back from a week-long exploration the island nation of Cyprus, where we developed the plans for an Oldways Symposium in Fall 2010. From antiquity Cyprus has been called Aphrodite’s Island, and we stayed in a gorgeous hotel looking out over Aphrodite’s Rock, the site of her birth, washed with the Mediterranean’s blue waters.
We were excited to find that Cyprus is full of old ways traditions, foods, wines, as well as a very proud spirit.
The best known food of Cyprus may well be its incredibly delicious sheep and goat cheese, called halloumi (see above). Cyprus also boasts red and white wines gaining widespread international acclaim, wonderful award-winning olive oils and table olives, a wide variety of sweets including soutjouko [prounced sheh-SHOO-keh], carob, honey, spoon sweets, rose waters and a roster of other culinary delights, too.
Cyprus boasts breathtakingly beautiful hotels, tavernas (both rustic and elegant), splendid crafts (especially the delicate lace from Lefkara), ancient monasteries filled with mosaics, jewels, silver, gold and the icons so central to the Orthodox religion, as well as fairy tale-like villages that transport us back to the old days.
More on halloumi tomorrow,
Sara & Dun
