Cypriot meze, a meal that arrives in waves

If someone asks me which meal not to miss in Cyprus, I don’t name a dish, I name a way of eating. Meze is a run of small plates that keeps filling the table over a long, unhurried meal, and it’s the best way to try half of Cypriot cooking in one sitting. Here’s how it works according to the Famagusta and Paphos tourism boards, and what I’d do to enjoy it. For the background, see Cypriot food.

What is a Cypriot meze?

The Cyprus Food Virtual Museum describes it as a meal made of a variety of small dishes, served one after another and meant for everyone at the table. It covers starters, meat or fish dishes, sides and desserts, and it’s still served in restaurants and tavernas all over the island. The Famagusta tourism board adds two details that explain a lot. Around twenty traditional dishes is standard, and Cypriots order it for feasts, celebrations and anniversaries, and when they sit down for a drink. Limassol Tourism sums it up as a full taste of Cyprus.

The order of play

Meze starts light. First come salads, dips, olives and freshly baked bread. According to the Famagusta board, depending on the restaurant you may then get snails, octopus in red wine, pickled capers and greens. Next comes grilled halloumi, smoked pork, fish, keftedes, which are meatballs, sheftalia and sausages. Last are the kebabs and the chicken and lamb chops. Plenty of tavernas add giant beans and Cypriot rice.

The Paphos tourism board describes it like a film. The first course to land on an empty table is grilled Cypriot bread with olive oil and oregano, crushed green olives scented with coriander, sizzling halloumi, dips, garlic mushrooms in cream and fried meatballs, and all of that, it says, is just the trailers before the main feature. Among the dips it lists tahini, taramosalata and tzatziki.

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Meat or fish

The meat version is the most common, and it peaks with kebabs and chops, such as Cypriot souvla and souvlaki. The fish version swaps the climax for fresh grilled fish with a lemon, garlic and butter sauce, according to the Paphos board. On the coast I’d order the fish meze at least once, and in the hill villages, the meat one.

What changes from one area to another

Each district adds its own touch. In the east, the Famagusta board encourages you to look for home-style dishes made with produce from its red soil, potatoes, the taro of Sotira, which has held protected designation of origin status since 2016, and its fried «poulles». In Paphos, the board singles out tsamarella, goat meat dried in the sun with salt and oregano. That’s why it’s worth having meze in more than one place on a trip, because it never comes out the same.

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A sweet finish, and no rush

Meze always ends on something sweet. The Paphos board mentions honey puffs, cheese pastries soaked in honey, preserved almonds, dates, apricots, cherries, quinces or grapes, or a plate of seasonal fruit. The island’s sweets are in Cypriot desserts. The same board insists on the pace, you eat it slowly, «siga, siga», as Cypriots say.

A meze from the old days

The Cyprus Food Virtual Museum records an older custom that fits the idea well. At the Doriforos tavern in Aglantzia, which ran from 1959 to 1974, three mezedes came on a single plate, wild greens with egg, pastourmas with egg and mushrooms in white wine with coriander. It’s proof that meze isn’t a tourist invention, it’s how the island has eaten for decades.

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How I’d order it

Hungry, with time to spare and with company, because meze is for sharing. You normally order it for the whole table and say whether you want meat or fish, without choosing the dishes. I’d go easy on the bread, save myself for the second half and drink island wine, a beer or a cold zivania at the end. To choose where to sit down, see where to eat in Cyprus.

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