manolis writes

Mango season in Cyprus

Although not endemic to Cyprus, mangoes have been grown here for the best part of five decades, ostensibly introduced by a Cypriot living in Darwin, Australia. The Paphos area climate provides optimal cultivation conditions. Mangoes require plenty of sunshine, mild winters, and well-drained soil rich in organic matter. The downside is that they also requireContinue reading “Mango season in Cyprus”

On the Mediterranean diet

This is older but, being in the process of updating and rationalising my sites and blogs, I’m reposting it here, In February 2023 I ran a cooking workshop for the Goethe Institut Zypern as part of the Foodprint project. The title was Tangy: A celebration of citrus in Mediterranean cuisine. In preparation for the workshop, I jotted down the followingContinue reading “On the Mediterranean diet”

On cooking and eating together

There’s some intuitive appeal to the idea that the experience of cooking and eating is enhanced when we do it together as a group, when we all participate in the different stages of production of a meal from picking and handling ingredients, combining them, seasoning, smelling, tasting to then setting the table, serving and sharingContinue reading “On cooking and eating together”

Cooking at a mountain retreat

On Friday, 15 September, I rushed from an official lunch in Nicosia to get to the village of Vasa Kilaniou in time to prepare dinner. Once you get past the traffic havoc of the capital and its outskirts, you cross a mountainous landscape dotted with stone-built villages, fields, green and lush in spring, golden and dry inContinue reading “Cooking at a mountain retreat”