I nearly got kicked out of the house today for calling this a “Greek salad.” But that’s what we call it! Well, apparently around these parts it’s called a “Mediterranean salad” or even a “Turkish salad.” Tomato, tomahto. Normally I would make this salad (from wherever) with black olives, but one uses what one has in the house.
Anyway, this was my lunch today, and whatever you call it, it was awesome.
Is it because of the ‘Greek’ part? I mean, I heard that Turks and Greek generally don’t like each other very much.
okay so i had my dinner planned alredy and then you show me a plate of feta. (yeah that was all i saw on that plate!) May have to adjust my plans for dinner! yum
@Kris: bingo, that’s exactly my point.
@brendajos: omg, you’d better run before the Turkish police come knocking – that is not feta, that is Turkish white cheese. Now, let me hurry and roll my eyes and run away before the hordes of Turks swarm in and remind me that they’re really not even close to the same thing (truth: there are many kinds of Turkish white cheese and many kinds of feta and quite a few overlaps and similarities… and yes, some Turkish white cheese is absolutely indistinguishable from certain types of feta, though Turks will tell you that all feta tastes awful and can make you ill if you eat it, and the Greeks say the same about all Turkish white cheese, cue second eyeroll).
One of these days I’m going to make this salad with feta and Turkish white cheese and call it a “can’t we all just get along” salad.
I like to think of it as a Cypriot salad. Then both the Greeks and the Turks can both love it and hate it.
@HighDef: ha, that’s an excellent idea! And seeing as I’m going to Cyprus today, I think it’s appropriate.
Looks spectaK. A Danish in Denmark is vienbroed (vienna bread).
The seasonal salad -or Choban (Cowboy) Salad- itself (without the cheese) is pure Turkish as Turks have been eating it that way even before arriving to Anatolia. Having white cheese inside is an Aegean tradition. Greeks, Cypriots, Aegean Turks are all eating it with cheese.
The names are not so important for me, but most of Greeks don’t think so, I guess. Because after Karagöz-Hacivat shadow theather and yoghurt and lots of other things, they even tried to steal a disease from Turks last week! “Behcet” is a skin disease which is discovered by a Turkish Dr. Behcet in 1930s, but now Greeks wanted to adopt a Greek name for it in the international literature.
From salads, to diseases. Appetizing:)
@bauer: also, what we call an English muffin is just called a muffin in England (makes sense), and what we would call a muffin (blueberry, etc.) is called an American muffin in the UK.
@Emre: oh, the yogurt thing, yes… pretty much all over the world there’s speciality “Greek yogurt,” which infuriates every Turk I mention this to, because as you point out, yogurt is actually Turkish.
This comment of yours has got me thinking about other naming anomalies; I feel another post coming on.