Culture Magazine

56 culturecheesemag.com C H E E S E+ 202 2 picturesque travel show focuses on the culture and cuisine of Greece's coastal areas and many islands. Will Studd is a British-born Australian cheesemonger who champions artisan cheeses around the world. He's currently singing the praises of barrel-ripened feta being made by only a handful of small dairies in Greece. This classic Greek feta made from a mix of ewe's and goat's milk sits in oak barrels for four to six months, an aging process that yields cheese that is crumbly yet creamy in texture and has a rich, sweet, and tangy flavor. Studd says he likes to crumble it over any type of grilled shellfish. "Seafood and cheese are paired in Greece, particularly in the coastal port villages and on the islands, because fish is readily available; and many traditional Greek cheeses are simple, fresh, rindless ones created by nomadic shepherds from sheep's and goat's milk. Their tangy acidity naturally enhances the flavors of the seafood," says Studd. Like lemon juice does. One of Leivaditaki's favorite seafood and cheese combinations features a fillet of fish that is cooked slowly with sweet red horn peppers, tomatoes, chopped pastrouma (a cured meat seasoned with fenugreek), white wine, toasted cumin, chilies, and crumbled feta. She says the fillet can come from either a meaty or a flaky species of fish because a particular texture or flavor profile is not a big concern in this recipe; freshness is the main objective. "The sauce is thick. The fenugreek jumps through the sweetness of the peppers and tomatoes. The feta adds the secret, and the fillet next to that secret becomes the protagonist in the story of the dish," says Leivaditaki. The daughter of a fisherman on the island of Crete, published a cookbook called Aegean, Recipes from the Mountains to the Sea. She features a total of 33 seafood recipes, four of which also include various Greek cheeses. In a recipe for mussel saganaki with fennel, feta, and ouzo, she again illustrates how Greek's most imported cheese makes seafood pop in a simple presentation. Feta-topped shellfish saganaki dishes—whether they feature clams, langoustine, mussels, scallops, or shrimp (see recipe, page 62)—are served in small seaside tavernas throughout Greece, including the one Leivaditaki's family operated while she was growing up. There are piles of evidence in the historical cookbook collection housed at the Schlesinger Library at the "Seafood and cheese are paired in Greece, particularly in the coastal port villages and on the islands, because fish is readily available; and many traditional Greek cheeses are simple, fresh, rindless ones created by nomadic shepherds from sheep's and goat's milk. Their tangy acidity naturally enhances the flavors of the seafood." PHOTOS: Provided by Sam Studd/@samdingostudd (Instagram) / Original photos taken by Lauren Bamford

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