Day/Night Owls Chit Chat

[Texan]

Cheddar is better.

[Nicole]

Nah. Jarlesberg takes the cake.

[brian ross]

Stilton is the Prince of Cheeses. Superb flavour. Followed closely by Roquefort and Gorgonzola from France and Italy respectively. Sharp, well rounded flavours. I love cooking with them all.

[FLEKTARN]

Bulgarian cheese owns you, sorry, it always wins

The fact that you've probably never tried it, sad, very sad, you've lost so much, one's life can be very pointless without the king of all cheeses, his royalty сиренце

[Black Orchid]

That looks like Feta cheese.

I like tasty, cheddar, camembert, brie (especially with slices of kiwifruit on a cracker) and feta in cooking and in salads.

[FLEKTARN]

That looks like Feta cheese.

I like tasty, cheddar, camembert, brie (especially with slices of kiwifruit on a cracker) and feta in cooking and in salads.

It's not feta, you're talking bullshit. Feta is first Greek, second soft, third not salty, very spongy often, and it's like comparing a boat, to a train. Feta is a modified Bulgarian cheese, copied by the Greeks and made worse. Don't insult me, please. It's an insult on my culture, I'm serious.

The difference is that Bulgarian Feta simply does not exist. There is Bulgarian cheese similar to Feta and it's called Sirene, which has several different variations, depending on the milk used. It's very grainy too.

Bulgarian sirene also has more full-bodied taste than the disgusting Greek feta, especially the feta that isn't actually Greek. Sirene is known under the name Bulghari in Lebanon and Bulgarit in Israel, where they easily make difference between sirene andfeta.

We don't often have feta here, because we don't eat it, because it's disgusting. I've eaten feta 3 times in my life, 2 of them in Greece when on vacation, and one time I found feta in some big market like LIDL, you can find it in such big supermarkets but nobody eats it.

Sirene is also used in our баница breakfast - it stays firm and solid, doesn't leak or get soft when baked.

[Black Orchid]

Feta is not always soft, holds its shape when cooked and it is very salty. I am not going to argue about cheeses though and I am sure you have some very nice cheeses there.

It's an individual taste and if we didn't all like different things, like cheeses, we wouldn't have the variety that we do.

[brian ross]

Feta was created by the Greeks:

The earliest references to cheese production in Greece date from the 8th century BC: the technology to make cheese from sheep's or goat's milk described in Homer's Odyssey (involving the contents of Polyphemus's cave)[9] is similar to that used by Greek shepherds today to produce feta.[10][11] Cheese made from sheep's or goat's milk was a common food in ancient Greece and an integral component of later Greek gastronomy.[10] Feta cheese specifically is first recorded in the Byzantine Empire (Poem on Medicine 1.209) under the name prósphatos (Greek: πρόσφατος, "recent" or "fresh"), and was produced by the Cretans and the Vlachs of Thessaly.[8] In the late 15th century, an Italian visitor to Candia, Pietro Casola, describes the marketing of feta, as well as its storage in brine.[8]

The Greek word feta (φέτα) comes from the Italian word fetta ("slice"), which in turn is derived from the Latin word offa ("a morsel", "piece").[12][13] It was introduced into the Greek language in the 17th century, became a widespread term in the 19th century, and probably refers to the practice of slicing cheese in order to place the slices into barrels.[11]

[Source]

Feta literally means slice

The history of cheese is as old as humanity itself, and is connected to the taming of domestic animals 10,000 years B.C ago. The roots of cheese making are not known with certainty. It is, however, believed that cheese was first produced roughly 8.000 years ago. It is very likely its discovery was completely accidental, during transport of milk in stomachs of young animals.

To the modern consumer, the word Feta means brine cheese, produced in Greece, using specific technology from sheep and goat milk. According to Greek mythology, the gods sent Aristaios, son of Apollo, to teach Greeks the art of cheese making.

There are many records regarding production and consumption of cheese in ancient Greece, from Aristoteles, Pythagoras and other ancient comedy writers. It has been known at least since Homer’s time. The cheese that was prepared by Cyclope Polyfimos and described in the 8th B.C. century in Homer’s Odyssey, is considered to be the ancestor of Feta:

“We entered the cave, but he wasn’t there, only his plump sheep grazed in the meadow. The woven baskets were full of cheese, the folds were full of sheep and goats and all his pots, tubs and churns where he drew the milk, were full of whey. When half of the snow-white milk curdled he collected it put it in the woven baskets and kept the other half in a tub to drink. Why my good ram are you the last to leave the fold? You have never been left behind by the flock before. You were always first walking ahead to graze the tender sheets of grass.”

According to myth, Cyclope Polyfimos was the first to prepare cheese. Transporting the milk that he collected from his sheep in skinbags made of animal stomachs, one day he realized to his great surprise that the milk had curdled and had taken a solid, tasty and conservable form.

In the museum of Delphi, a statuette of the 6th B.C. century can be found that depicts the exit of Ulysses hanging under the Cyclopes favorite ram. 8,000 years later the way Feta is produced remains much the same, differing only in areas such as automation and packaging.

The ancient Greeks called the product that emanated from the coagulation of milk “cheese”. The name Feta, literally meaning “slice,” originated in the 17th century, and probably refers to the practice of slicing up cheese to be placed into barrels—a tradition still practiced today. The name Feta prevailed in the 19th century, and since then has characterized a cheese that has been prepared for centuries using the same general technique, and whose origin is lost in time.

In the 20th century a mass immigration of Greeks to various countries took place mainly to Australia, the United States, Canada and Germany. As a result, numerous Greek communities were formed abroad, whose members maintained to a large extent their dietary habits. Thus, new markets were created for Feta cheese in different parts of the world, resulting in the growth of Feta’s international trade.

Feta really is Greek

The European Commission has instituted the protection of the geographical origin of various products, through their characterization as products of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).

In today’s globalization era, safeguarding origin names and the right to use these against producers providing the markets with imitations is not an easy process. Insofar as a specific product is connected in consumer minds to a specific name place, in a way that a mere mention of the product name, brings its place of production immediately to mind, it is fair and in accordance to international treaties to protect its origin name.

Initially Feta was established according to the regulation 1107/96 as a product of Protected Designation of Origin based on the terms laid out by EU regulation 2081/92 regarding the conditions for a product to be characterized as such. However, some member states appealed to the European Court for the annulment of this decision. Their position was that the name Feta had become a common one. The European Court decided the partial annulment of the regulation 1107/96, removing the name Feta from the protected geographical indication register. The thinking behind this decision was that during establishment of Feta as PDO, the Commission had not taken into account the analysis of the situation in other member states regarding the documentation of the authenticity of its origin.

After a thorough analysis regarding the situation in member states, from which it was revealed that the origin of Feta is indeed Greek, and after a recommendation from a scientific commission, the Commission suggested the re-registration of Feta in the rule (ΕC) 1107/96. The name Feta was re-introduced in the PDO registry with the (EC) 1829/2002 ruling of the Commission in October of 2002.

[Source]

In ancient Greece, the earliest records of cheesemaking can be found in Homer‘s ‘Odyssey’ where the Cyclops Polyphemus was the first to prepare feta’s ancestor. According to the myth, he used to transport the milk from his sheep in skin bags made of animal stomachs, when one day, he realized to his great surprise that the milk had curdled and taken solid form – and actually tasted good. When that myth actually translated into reality is impossible to verify, but according to various bibliographic and scientific references, the production of feta has been known at least since then.

Indeed, during the Archaic time period, records pointed to ancient Greeks producing a type of feta using sheep’s milk, using Polyphemus’ technique, though at that time, the product was simply called cheese.

Feta cheese is first mentioned during Byzantine times and was called ‘prosphatos’ (meaning recent or fresh), and associated with Crete. Pietro Casola, an Italian traveler visiting Heraklion in Crete in 1494, distinctly described the production and storage of feta in brine. But it was in the 17th century that Greeks started using the name ‘feta’ (literally meaning slice), which may refer to the practice of slicing up cheese to be stored in containers or cutting it in thin slices to be served.

Feta has long been made from sheep’s milk, although goat’s milk is sometimes added; in fact, EU legislation dictates that up to 30% goat’s milk may be used for a feta to still attain a ‘Protected Designation of Origin’ (P.D.O.) product classification, and it must come from the same area as the sheep’s milk. Since the early 20th century, feta cheese has established itself as a major part of the Greek diet and is associated with the traditional way of life. Widely exported, feta is enjoyed abroad as it is at home – as an essential part of the Greek salad, a delicious starter available in virtually any restaurant or taverna in the country.

[Source]

No mention of Bulgaria as the place of invention in the slightest...

[Black Orchid]

Geezus let's not fight about cheese! What's wrong with some of you men?

So, the debate is, with so many white cheeses from the region and eventually worldwide, had Feta become a generic name by 2002? Or is it a Greek specific name that should be protected? Did they have a strong enough claim to justify this change – and is Feta really “Greek” when the origins of white brined cheese are so lost to history?

The first question to ask – If we are pinning the origin of the Cheese on greek mythology, rather than historic record, should we be also considering what was Greece in 800 BC when Homer’s book was written?

Looking at an historical map, you’ll find Greek settlements all the way up the Black sea coast through modern day Bulgaria and into Romania and beyond. It’s possible to consider this cheese was being made by locals in this region and the knowledge was passed on to Greek traders, prior to 800 BC.

Though given the belief in the food science history community that cheese was made since at least 8000 BC, that was long before there was any such country as Greece. It just so happens that Greece has existed in some sort of perpetuity of identity for longer than most of it’s neighbours. Giving it a longer historical claim than others simply for political identity, rather than any modern day geographical origin

Greece has the oldest written evidence of the knowledge of this cheese being made though it is widely agreed the exact origin of the cheese is lost to history long before any written record was made.

Greece also named and popularised Feta, to a point where culturally, even if the origin of the word is Italian, whenever we talk about Feta cheese, the association is first and foremost to Greece – to the point where even some locals in Bulgaria / Romania etc. Use terms like “Bulgarian Feta” to help identify their cheese to foreigners – even though they can’t print that on the label. In the United States, where name regulations do not apply, it’s often sold under the name “Bulgarian Feta.”

The job for Sirene cheese, may now be to create a name for themselves, as they have a fantastic product. Rather than leapfrogging off the success of Feta – easier said than done of course.

Fact is we don't know!

https://foodfuntravel.com/history-of-fe ... se-sirene/

[FLEKTARN]

It's pretty obvious this article got written by some office rat who has never been in Bulgaria or even tried the cheese. Journos are the stupidest fluffy bunnies ever. And by the way, fuck Greece. Greeks can suck my cock.