One of the advantages of Cyprus holidays is that you can choose to go north or south to enjoy one of two very different cultures. Even though these two cutures have lived together over centuries there has been surprising little convergence in their cuisines. Occasionally both cultures use the same name as they do for the fruit orange, portacal in North Cyprus and portacali in the south. Often, as in this instance, this apparent convergence is a result of an external influence. The name for an orange in both these languages comes from the word for Portugal. Portugal introduced the sweet orange into the Mediterranean countries.

Kleftiko is one traditional Cypriot dish for which both north and south use the same name. Kleftiko means stolen or poached meat. Essentially it is a piece of lamb or goat wrapped in grease proof paper, or foil these days and baked slowly in one of the traditional outside ovens.

There are numerous legends describing the origins of the dish but, essentially they all described how the stolen meat had to be cooked to avoid giving off any delightful aroma which would reveal the position of the thieves. This was achieved by cooking the wrapped meat hidden in the ground beneath hot ashes. In North Cyprus this popular dish is on most menus as kleftiko but in traditional areas it might be listed under its Turkish eqivalent name of kup kebabi.

Another food which both north and south claim as their own is hellim, in North Cyprus, and haloumi in the south.It is exactly the same style of cheese made in the same way. It is made in two stages, first stage involves making unsalted white cheese, the very popular beyaz peynir in the north, and then further converted after adding salt to convert to hellim. Hellim or haloumi is a rubbery type of cheese which squeaks gentle on your teeth as you eat it! This cheese grills or fries very well and is often served this way as a meze or maybe with an aubergine salad as a light lunch dish.