Pantelis Panteli, master of the “real” sheep’s milk halloumi. (Credit: Anne Ilcinkas/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Every Saturday morning, Pantelis Panteli parks his van in a lot in Aglantzia, across from Rik TV station in a residential suburb of Nicosia. Despite a few raindrops that day, customers waited patiently for their turn. Panteli greeted each of them with a few words and a smile as he served them."Once they taste real halloumi, they never go back," he said between customers.Panteli has been making halloumi for the past 10 years using sheep's milk, unlike industrial producers who mix it with cow's milk. He speaks about the cheese with unmistakable passion, yet he only entered the profession at age 42.Born in Nicosia in 1973, on the eve of the island's division, Panteli now runs a farm in Kokkinotrimithia that is home to 300 sheep and, at the moment, around 100 lambs. The farm overlooks the Green Line and, beyond it, the...
Every Saturday morning, Pantelis Panteli parks his van in a lot in Aglantzia, across from Rik TV station in a residential suburb of Nicosia. Despite a few raindrops that day, customers waited patiently for their turn. Panteli greeted each of them with a few words and a smile as he served them."Once they taste real halloumi, they never go back," he said between customers.Panteli has been...
