Forty years after Cyprus was divided by bloody conflict, it is being united by cheese. Halloumi is the variety for which both the Greek and Turkish communities on Cyprus are known but it is under threat from foreigners making the rubbery product elsewhere. To protect their industry, both Greek and Turkish Cypriots are seeking European Union appellation protection, which would mean that only the cheese produced on their island can be called halloumi.
The new joint effort is thoroughly sensible. It was Napoleon who said that there are only two forces that unite men – fear and interest and halloumi is, after all, Cyprus’s second-largest export. Food, of course, has great power to unite. Or to divide with some terroritorial disputes acquiring a culinary dimension, as with the constant argument between Israel and the Arab world over who invented felafel and hummus. If halloumi can bring together those sundered by war and a UN buffer zone, Cyprus will know that it has a friend in cheese.
