It’s a truth universally acknowledged: traveling is best when done with friends! Last summer, I had the opportunity to travel to Thessaloniki, Greece, to learn about one of Greece’s top exports, feta PDO, with one of my good friends and editor-in-chief, Brian Hart Hoffman. From eating cheese with every meal to enjoying Greek wine, beaches, and sunshine, we couldn’t have asked for a more quintessentially Greek experience. In a place where “food is an expression of love and hospitality,” Brian and I both fit right in. Starting each morning with a stroll along the waterfront, popping into a café for a freddo cappuccino and pastry, it was love at first sight, bite, and sip.
Thessaloniki is the second-largest city in Greece after Athens, with a population of around 814,000 people. In the summer, the city is a hot spot for late-night merriment; it’s filled with life into the late hours of the night (or early morning hours, depending on how you look at it). It’s a port city and a major gateway to the Balkans, southeastern Europe, and North African countries like Egypt and Libya. The region’s multicultural history is evident in the food scene, with access to spices and ingredients previously not available in other parts of the country. But there’s one local ingredient in Greek cuisine that stands above all others: feta.
So, what is feta PDO? PDO, or protected designation of origin, is a geographical indicator created by the EU to protect products produced, processed, and prepared from a certain region, area, or country. To be called feta, the tangy white cheese must be produced in Greece; otherwise, it’s “Greek-style” or “feta-style” cheese. There are other rigorous requirements that must be met for feta. It must be made of either
