In the Eastern Mediterranean, some believe the region’s conflicts may exist in people’s minds, but not on their plates. Don’t you eat the same falafel in Aleppo as you do in Tel Aviv, says one Istanbul resident Meyhane not very similar to that of an Athens tavern? That’s right. But the idea that food brings people together is also an overly romantic idea. All you have to do is ask a Syrian what she thinks of Israeli falafel (perhaps even less than Benjamin Netanyahu). It’s not that hard to find a Turk who complains that hardly anyone speaks Turkish Cacik But everyone knows the Greek variant Tsatsiki (ancient story).
An EU decision brought North and South Cyprus closer together
The area specializes in old stories. One of them is about grilled cheese, the Cypriot halloumi, which is called “Hellim” in the Turkish-occupied north of the island. On Wednesday, the European Union court in Luxembourg dealt with the cheese, which is because the EU registered it as a “protected designation of origin” in 2021. That is, halloumi is a Cypriot cheese, and it must consist of more than half sheep’s or goat’s milk, not cow’s milk. The EU also stipulated at the time that not only Greek Cypriot halloumi had a right to protection, but also Turkish Cypriot hellim. Northern Cypriots were given the right to export their cheese to the European Union. What made someone from the Greek part, im Guardian to speak of “betrayal”. The transmitter Euronews didn’t let this irritate him and asked: “Can cheese diplomacy help Cyprus?”
Two years later, halloumi has not become peace cheese. The “Foundation for the Protection of the Traditional Cypriot Cheese Called Halloumi” even sued a manufacturer from Bulgaria whose product was called “BBQLOUMI”. The European judges dismissed the lawsuit, saying there was no risk of confusion. Now the court in Luxembourg was concerned with the protection of halloumi itself, to which there have always been objections. Among other things, the fact that the “Chios sheep” and the “Damascus goat” live on Cyprus, animal species that only came to the island in the 20th century – does their cheese deserve EU protection? The Syrians mentioned earlier might have a different opinion.
But Cypriot manufacturers were also skeptical. You can’t use less than 50 percent cow’s milk so quickly, there is a lack of sheep and goats. This was also the case in the Turkish north, where Hellim accounts for more than a third of export sales – to countries outside the EU with a high proportion of cow’s milk. The Turkish Cypriots wrote a letter of complaint to Brussels, and their Greek colleagues complained. At least they agreed on their anger at the EU.
They lost on Wednesday. The judges in Luxembourg ruled that the protection remains. It may be that the cheesemakers will soon be out on the streets again. In 2021, the northern Cypriots moved to the north-south border, they had a grill with their hellim on it, and it did the same: it didn’t give in even at high temperatures.