Cyprus Meze > an A to Z guide October 3, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Food Cyprus.Tags: Cyprus, Cyprus Wines, Dining, Food, Food Cyprus, Greek coffee, Meze, Taste, Traditional Cypriot food
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The Cypriot food vocabulary is huge. Greek Cypriots dine with as much gusto, if not more, than any other country in the Mediterranean.
Though the country has strong Greek roots, its cuisine also has traces of Middle Eastern influence, as evidenced in the popularity of such dishes as hummus and pita bread, just to name but a few. However, Greek cuisine and food aesthetics prevail throughout Cyprus, where meats are almost always grilled, broiled or roasted after marinating in olive oil and aromatic spices. Cypriots drizzle rich salads with olive oil, spike them with olives and stuff them with tomatoes and cucumbers. They are served with nearly everything.
Throughout the country, Cypriots love to eat their savory dishes in a traditionally Cypriot way, the meze. Tavernas, restaurants that specialize in meze, either meat or fish based, can serve scores of dishes in as many as seven successive waves, beginning with dips like hummus, chickpea dip, tzatziki, cucumber-yogurt dip and skordalia, garlic dip and bread or pita, progressing through salad and kapari, capers, souvla or other meat or fish dishes, and finishing with sweet deserts and then fruit and coffee.
It would probably take days to recount all of the dishes Cypriots enjoy meze-style, but here are some popular items on the meze menu >
Halloumi > Enormously popular cheese made with sheep’s milk. It’s less salty and more squeaky than feta. It is grilled, carved into thick slabs and served in salads and even grated over hot buttered pasta for a simple dish.
Kapari > Capers, or, kapari in Greek, are huge capers, and are pickled along with the foliage the caper buds grow on.
Keftedes > Meatballs made of ground pork, or, less commonly, beef, mixed with shredded potato and then deep-fried.
Kleftiko, or, Ofto Kleftiko > The name of this dish literally means “bandit” or “thief.” Legend has it that guerrilla fighters in Greece, during the 1821 War for Independence, would fill a hole with hot coals, then place meat on the coals and cover up the hole to avoid being discovered. The meat would cook for hours before being dug up again. Nowdays, the meat isn’t cooked in a hole but in a special oven that imparts a succulent tenderness to the spiced dish.
Koupepia, or, Dolmades > Stuffed grape leaves with chopped meat, rice and spices. Dolmades is a generic term for stuffed vegetable such as aubergines, tomatoes, pumpkins, while Koupepia is the specific name for this rich dish.
Sheftalia > One of the richest, meatiest, well-spiced pork sausage-type, you’re likely to find anywhere. The sausage-type is a specialty served almost exclusively on the island.
Souvla > Often the meat of dinner, pun intended, Souvla is as ubiquitous in Cyprus as sandwiches are elsewhere. The dish consists of cubes of beef, pork, lamb or chicken that are marinated in olive oil and other aromatic spices and then grilled. Afterward, they are served with toasted pita bread, salad and the cucumber-yogurt tzatziki dip. Souvlaki, is the “little brother” of souvla, as it is similar but cut in small size pieces.
Finishing usually comes with a Greek coffee, and a sweet dessert or fruit. Or, for a true Cypriot meal, serve the licorice-tasting ouzo alongside the dishes, or choose the Cyprus traditional “Commandaria” wine.
grhomeboy
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