A Cypriot friend of mine sent me this link. I'm posting it here because it might be more political than we like in the open forum, but I thought you would enjoy it.
Eating towards a solution
By Jean Christou
FOR 30 years, diplomats and politicians have been trying to find ways to bring the two sides in Cyprus together, from conflict resolution to culture, but one man has decided to put aside the high-brow in favour of a more basic pastime…eating.
If there is one thing that both Greek and Turkish Cypriots appreciate, it’s a common love of good food and so ‘Eating Towards a Soution’, a UNOPS-funded bicommunal project was born.
“The idea came from another project I had in mind about Mediterranean cuisine,” said co-ordinator Anthos Shekeris.
He said he then contacted Eurotoques, a lobby of European chefs dedicated to preserving the traditional cuisine of individual member states. The movement was established in 1986 in Brussels and consists of 2,500 members, and is the official, professional, gastronomic organisation of the European Union
“They don’t believe in McDonaldisation and so this came up. Since the project started before the Annan plan, I thought something on the EU lines might be attractive for both communities and that’s why I didn’t approach the Greek Cypriot chefs’ association for example,” Shekeris said.
Instead, he hooked up with people such as Panicos Hadjisymeou, the head of Cyprus Airways’ catering division, and Mustafa Shah, Head-Master of the Hotel, Tourism and Catering Training Centre in Kyrenia.
The main aim of the project was the creation of a website, which will be officially launched at a Gala dinner in Nicosia for around 100 people on Friday.
The website, in three languages, will house an interactive databank and encourages Cypriots and others to investigate the ways in which food is produced and consumed on the island, the histories of those processes and the varying forms through which the significance of this might be better understood.
It also involves training, and Turkish Cypriot chefs have participated on the Greek side.
“Another thing was a film showing an old Greek Cypriot lady making halloumi and then a Turkish Cypriot woman doing the same thing. It’s just to show the communality of the thing and to show that halloumi is a very Cypriot product,” said Shekeris. “And flaounas. I thought only Greek Cypriots made them for Easter but they (Turkish Cypriots) do it every day. I was like ‘wow’, and they have the same problems as well, such as old people are dying off and not putting down the real recipes of the little yiayias. The same problem exists on both sides.”
Shekeris said there might even be a cookbook if the project continues to keep up the momentum.
As for the project name, he said: “I woke up one day and I figured it out. It was during the middle of the Annan plan and I thought since we were not doing anything towards solving it, why not start eating,” he said.
“It’s a basic need. It was one of the most common things. If you taste food there, you will see that tastes are similar and we all understand it. It’s something where you forget politics.”
He did say that some people had made fun of the name, but when the furore over the UNOPS financing broke out last month and bi-communal projects were tarred as being being traitorous, ‘Eating Towards a Solution’ somehow managed to avoid any backlash.
“We did wonder if we were giving secrets away by revealing how halloumi was made on the Greek Cypriot side…” said Shekeris.
As it involves eating, there is also very much a social side to the project, including two cheese and wine parties on the Turkish Cypriot side, but it was agreed the no events in the north would be held on Greek Cypriot properties.
“I’ve also had Zivania nights here, which were great,” Shekeris said. “So the next project I’m going to do is ‘Drinking Towards a Solution’, because then we will probably find one.”
http://www.eurotoquescyprus.org/
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