Cypriot food and drink
The many tastes of Cyprus
The tastes of Cyprus are a unique blend of Greek, Arabic and English, heavily influenced by the Mediterranean diet, said to be one of the healthiest in the world.
Expect to eat lots of fresh fruit, fish, meat and vegetables often flavoured with fresh herbs and spices.
Cypriots regard dining out as a sensual, leisurely experience that can stretch out for hours. Dinner is usually eaten between 8 – 9 pm or even later at the height of summer.
Breakfast
Traditional Cypriot breakfasts include grilled haloumi (sheep’s milk cheese), cold meats, olives, tomatoes, cucumber and warm pitta bread but you can also get the equivalent of the “full English” with spicy sausage, eggs and potatoes, usually accompanied by the obligatory but delicious grilled haloumi.
Lunch
Chicken soup with egg-lemon sauce might be on the menu for lunch, followed by Tava, a tasty stew of meat, herbs and onions or seafood like sea bass or prawns, fresh from the sea and grilled to perfection.
Dinner
A Meze is the usual starter for dinner - a tasty combination of little titbits of food. This can also be ordered as a main meal. It often includes dolmades (stuffed vine leaves), meatballs, humours, grilled meats, haloumi, whitebait, smoked meat and meat stuffed pastries, olives, tomatoes and more.
If you can manage a main course after all that, you might eat a dish of Aphelia (cubed pork cooked slowly with wine), Keftedhes (meat balls), Klephtiko (roasted lamb) or Moussaka made with layers of minced meat, aubergines, potatoes and cheese sauce.
Desserts
Fresh fruit is often eaten for pudding and can be watermelon, cherries, pomegranate, figs or melon. But if you crave something sweeter try the Loukmadhes, little balls of dough friend and dipped in syrup or Baklava made from layers of filo pastry filled with nuts and a soaked in sugar syrup – absolutely scrumptious.
Drinks
If you ask for a Greek coffee, you’ll get kafe, a potent black brew served in tiny cups with a little sugar (metrio) or a lot of sugar (gliko). It’s usually accompanied by a glass of cold water.
The Cypriots are justly proud of their home produced wines. Try a glass of local sparkling white wine with your meal.
Quick Facts:
- The sweet dessert wine, Commandaria, is the only wine in the world bearing the same name since the 12th century.
- Some local people believe that they can tell your fortune by looking at the dregs left from your kafe.
- “Kopiaste” means “Come and join us”, so if someone having a meal says that to you, you’ll be made very welcome if you accept the invitation.
- Sesame seeds, grown in Cyprus up to 600m above sea level, are used in many dishes.
