Growing up Greek, feta was always around. In our family, it was what hot sauce is today; we put it on everything, from omelets and salads to orzo and beef stews. If it wasn’t in the dish, it was on the table as a meze. To this day, my perfect meal is still fresh bread with feta, sprinkled with oregano and drizzled with olive oil. That small tapas can last me all day!
But as a kid, I didn’t pay much attention to what kind of feta I was eating. Didn’t care about the nutritional values, what it was made with or where it came from. Feta was feta and I knew that I loved it. Over time, I not only began to meet people who didn’t like the cheese (a travesty, I know) but realized that it was being made throughout the world, and labelled as ‘Canadian feta’, ‘Bulgarian feta’, etc. I didn’t think much of it until very recently but it turns out, this is a very big deal.
FETA’S DEEP ROOTS
Feta has been a part of the Greek diet since ancient times and in fact, is described in Homer’s “Odyssey” which dates back to the 8th century BC. According to Homer:
“We entered the cave of Polyphemus, but Cyclops 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.”
True Greek feta, the national staple of Greece has always been made exclusively from sheep or a combination of sheep’s and goat’s milk in the following regions of Greece: Peloponnese, Central Greece, Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, Thrace, Lesvos, and Kephalonia. According to the EU Commission, the biodiversity of the land coupled with the special breeds of sheep and goats used for milk is what gives feta cheese a specific aroma and flavour. It’s not just the modern mountain nomads who’ve been making it this way but the ancient nomads as well who date back almost 3000 years.
PDO & FETA
Champagne is made in Champagne, France. If it’s made anywhere else in the world, it’s called sparkling wine. Feta entered the same sphere of conversation in 1994. At that time, several other European countries argued that feta was an Italian word meaning ‘slice’. The cheese itself was looked upon as a sheep or goat’s milk cheese that could be produced anywhere. The debate of feta’s origin went on for over 10 years before Greece won the fight for PDO status for feta cheese in 2005.
In other words, if it’s made in those particular regions of Greece mentioned above, it’s called feta. Otherwise, it’s called white cheese and in Canada where I live, it’s called ‘feta style cheese’. When you see the PDO label on feta, it’s real deal feta. Designation of origin identifies a product (in this case, feta) that originates from a certain region, area or country where the quality is due to a particular geographical environment and long-standing traditions that have been established by the region’s storied ancestors.
FETA FACTS
When you look at the nutritional facts, it’s easy to understand why Greek feta is both popular and widely imitated.
2x more Vitamin B12 than Cheddar cheese
4x more Vitamin D than Parmesan cheese
3x more Calcium than Brie cheese
2x more Iron than Blue cheese
Contains fewer calories than many other kinds of cheese. For example, one ounce of cheddar contains more than 110 calories and 7 grams of fat. Meanwhile, one ounce of feta has 74 calories and 6 grams of fat.
IT'S CULTURAL
I feel a cultural obligation to express my sincere appreciation for not only the cheese but also its origin, for the men and women who for generations have lived and breathed the mountains of Greece to help produce it. Those who respect the land and the animals who occupy it with them, those who keep it pure and extract only what they need to preserve not only their way of life but the soul of Greece, through one of its many national products, feta.
I’ll even take a step further and say that in a time of ‘leave no trace’, you could say that these nomads of feta were among the original pioneers of responsible travel, and respectful occupation of their surroundings.
Hopefully these tips for buying authentic feta did the trick. Do yourself a favour – look for the PDO feta. Not only will you be spending your money on quality and value but by doing so, will be respecting and preserving the soul and culture from which this cheese has been sourced and produced for millennia.
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