Dwarf Hippo on the Spit

Please welcome my good friend, Chrystalla Thoma, who's talking today about some of the historical foods of Cyprus for "A Nibble of History."

Um, hippo??? I've never seen that in a fantasy novel!

Dwarf hippo on the spit and other specialties from Cyprus (a historical overview of food)

Hi Krista, thanks for having me over. As per your request, but also because I agree it's an interesting topic, I will tell you about food in Cyprus from ancient times to today.

First of all, let's place Cyprus on the map so that we are clear about the influences and the available food sources: Cyprus is a relatively big island (but smaller than Sicily) in the Mediterranean. It lies underneath Turkey, next to Syria and Lebanon, and right above Egypt. Its ties to Greece, which is directly to its west, are ancient and very strong. Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots share the island (I won't go into the history of that relation here), and we share most of our dishes, with slight variations in the preparation and name.

The known history of Cyprus (new evidence is unearthed regularly) begins at about 12.000 BC. Before the earliest permanent settlements, we find caves used as dumping places for the bones from hunting and temporary camps. The island used to be very rich in fauna and very forested. Ships came from Asia Minor (nearest coast is Turkey only about 30km away) to hunt and take wood. Cyprus had unique animals, which had grown small due to their isolation on the island – dwarf elephants, hippos and even mammoth (animal dwarfism – these were also found on other Mediterranean islands). The hungry visitors wiped them out fast. The island also had deer, boar and wild goat. Only the wild goat has survived. The most traditional dish in Cyprus remains meat (in big chunks) on the spit over charcoal fire. To this day, men cook this meal called Souvla on Sundays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souvla).

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The earliest settlement we have found dates from about 10.000 BC – a Neolithic town. In that time, many towns appear. Cyprus offered not only food, but also wood for ships and plenty of copper. With time, we see the people raise pigs and goats and cultivate wheat. Wheat, olives, grapes, beans, lentils, these were and still are the staples of our diet.

Pork sausage with spices cured in red wine is typical – I remember as a kid watching the women sitting in the middle of the street (not many cars in our neighborhood back then) stuffing the long intestines and tying them off.

The Romans who kept Cyprus until it became part of the Byzantine Empire (at about 395AD) had a fish industry. They cut fish ponds in the soft rock of the shores (still there today!) and kept and raised fish for the aristocracy. The famous Garum sauce, a delicacy borrowed from the Greeks, was a sauce made from fermented fish intestines and spices or wine, which was added to almost every dish. Preference for this sauce hasn't survived to this day – in fact, it died with the end of the Roman Empire. It was a good source of protein, minerals and vitamin B, especially for the poorer social strata (it seems that it was similar to currently used Vietnamese fish sauces).

Soups with pulses dominated the diet, especially since the religious fasting demanded that no meat be consumed on most days of the year. Wild fowl and chickens and geese and a lot of fish were consumed, as well as cheese. The traditional Cyprus cheese is halloumi (hellim for the Turkish Cypriots – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloumi). For those not familiar with it, it is a very salty white cheese, kind of rubbery, flavored with mint. It is made into small slabs with are then folded, so that when you get a slice of it, it looks like a fat horseshoe. J Fried or grilled it's excellent. Anari (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anari_%2...) is crumbly fresh cheese similar to ricotta which is often eaten with cinnamon and sugar, or honey and rose water. We do eat Feta, in salad, but it's not traditional here. Sorry! (Lady Bethany will never visit Cyprus now!)

Pork ham (lountza), marinated in wine, sun-dried and smoked, can keep well in the heat, as can meat also marinated in wine, cooked and then preserved in its own fat in clay pots. My grandmother used to cook such things. When they killed a pig, they also fried its fat – in its own fat – and ate it (titsirides). Nobody cared about cholesterol back then!

Meat used to be cooked in outdoor beehive ovens for many hours till it became very soft. It's still done today, but one adds potatoes and tomatoes. Pork is often cooked with wine and coriander seeds (afelia - http://www.applepiepatispate.com/main...) or with lots of cumin and onions (tavas – can also be done with lamb – http://www.chefs.com/RecipeDetails.as...).

Dry bread (paximadi – rusk), which keeps well, is still eaten today. Dishes with cooked broken wheat and onion are typical. There is an ancient dish still prepared at weddings in the west of Cyprus, called Resi, which consists of wheat and meat cooked together in huge pots for days until they become a kind of paste (http://food-easy-recipes.webseomaster...).

Olives are eaten green or black, marinated, crushed and served with garlic, preserved in brine or vinegar. We produce excellent olive oil. Recently, the ruins of an olive mill from Phoenician time (about 700 BC) were found in Dali near the capital Nicosia.

Grapes have been used for wine and distilled liquors like Zivania (a sort of grappa) – but also for a sweet pudding made of grape juice and flour, and for shoudjoukos – long sweet sausages made as follows: almonds are passed on a long thread and are dipped many times in grape juice and each time allowed to dry in the sun, until they become thick (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soutzoukos). The texture is rubbery. Remember to remove the thread before biting! J

Wine is produced all over Cyprus, particularly in the mountains on very arid soils. A famous sweet wine which resembles sherry, is Comandaria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commandaria), introduced to Cyprus by the Knights of St John in 1192, when they bought Cyprus from Richard Lionheart. The ruins of the winery can still be seen.

There is a false notion that Cypriots ate very little meat in the past. True, the poor didn't have access to a lot of pork, and fish was probably expensive. But it seems they did have meat at least once a week, poultry mostly, or preserved fish, and eggs, and dairy products – unless it was a time of famine or very harsh rulers. The climate of the island is good, winters not too harsh, summers a little too dry. One big problem was the great droughts and plagues of locust flying to Cyprus from Egypt and destroying the crops.

To connect all this to stories, I do think that it's essential to know the settings to know what your characters might or might not eat. If you have a story set in a place like Cyprus, in a medieval like setting, you surely wouldn't find potatoes or tomatoes. You would probably find more eastern influence on the food than today, with dishes bearing Persian or Arabic names. No feta and not so much meat. No fresh bread every day, rather dry bread which one could soak in a soup or broth or even milk or hot wine. Salty cheese, olives and sun-dried ham, sweet fruit preserves in syrup and meat preserved in fat. The climate is very important, determining what would keep in the heat (the biggest problem), and what fresh vegetables would be available. Animals for fresh meat would be slaughtered at the end of autumn, before cold began, when they were fat. Wheat is harvested in early summer, grapes in late summer, olives in mid autumn, and different types of wild legumes in different times in the year. Collecting food still remains an activity for many people, and I can imagine that in the past it was vital. Many men still like to go hunting – quails, hares, partridges.

I think I should stop here. I love cooking (and eating!) and find food practices and traditions fascinating. I hope you have questions and comments, because I would love to discuss the topic even more!

Chrystalla is an author of fantasy and science fiction. She has published short stories in journals and anthologies, and has an urban fantasy novella coming out on March 1st with MuseItUp Publishing – about Dioscuri, Zeus's mythical twin sons.

You can read more about her writing here and here:

http://museituppublishing.com/musepub/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=91&Itemid=82

http://chrystallathoma.wordpress.com/

You can find Dioscuri here:

http://museituppublishing.blogspot.com/2010/08/dioscuri-by-chrystalla-thoma-cover.html