cheese focus
Manouri, sheep's whey cheese
Beyond Feta: Cheeses of Greece
The Mediterranean nation is ripe with varieties that can
stand up to other countries' offerings, if education and
solid marketing can get them off the ground.
BY JANET FLETCHER
A
nyone who has browsed the lively Central Market in Athens knows that there's a world of Greek
cheese beyond feta. Shoppers there can choose moist anthotiros, as fluffy and delicate as ricotta;
wedges of firm, oil-cured ladotiri; or smoked metsovone, one of Greece's few cow's milk cheeses.
But good luck trying to find these beloved foods at American markets. Specialty cheese merchants in the U.S. say they
struggle to sell Greek cheeses beyond feta, and most have relinquished that niche to ethnic delis and markets. Could a concerted
promotional effort raise the profile of Greek cheeses, as it has done for cheeses from Spain? Or are these Mediterranean specialties simply too lacking in broad appeal or too limited in flavor range to develop an American following?
56 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE
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