Things Can Only Get “Feta”

Picture it: Hoylake, 2020. A Greek, South African lady, with her 2 boys and gorgeous husband has recently discovered that she cannot seem to find Feta cheese in the UK.

Let me rephrase that. I cannot seem to find Feta cheese that I like. It would seem that 95% of Feta cheese in the UK is made with cow’s and goat’s milk & unfortunately I am severely allergic to goat’s milk.

I have been casually looking for over a month now but it has become an obsession now and it’s extremely important that I find the right Feta cheese.

We only realise that we take things for granted when we no longer have them. I took Meze Emporio in Senderwood – South Africa – for granted. Their “Meze special” Feta made from 100% cow’s milk is the perfect Feta cheese for me. Perfect texture, taste… simply melts in your mouth. It can be eaten as a starter, accompany a main meal, in a salad or simply as a snack. I crumb feta into most of my Greek dishes.

I believe my grandfather Eleftherios Nicolatos made a phenomenal Feta cheese made from cow’s milk, back in the day, in Kensington, South Africa. For as long as I can remember, Feta cheese was part of my staple every day diet. My best was the long 3 month holidays in Greece when we squeezed big juicy tomatoes onto freshly baked bread, crumbed Feta cheese on it and soaked it in tons of delicious olive oil. I basically lived on that during our school holidays.

We then moved back to South africa and my mom used to make sure we always had Feta cheese in the fridge. As an adult I would buy from Meze Emporium and if I by some turn of events ran out I would go to the closest store and get any Feta cheese. At all of our celebrations, Christmas, Easter, Birthdays, Sunday family lunches, FETA was always there.

So my question is, why does the UK predominately have Feta cheese made from a mix of goat’s and cow’s milk? I cannot tell you how this has become one of my biggest concerns since moving to the UK.

My first Feta purchase was online from Sainsbury’s. Only after I tasted it did I realise it had goat’s milk and I was a little annoyed but I never anticipated what happened next. Store after store, only Feta with some or other percentage of goat’s milk. I searched high and low but alas, no cow’s milk Feta cheese anywhere? and How am I then supposed to enjoy my greek Salad? How am I supposed to make my spanakopita (spinach pie) and tiropita (cheese pie)? First world problems you may say. Well it is a huge first world problem for me.

O Feta, Feta, wherefore art thou Feta?”

An extensive search began. Costco, Tescos, Morrisons. They all have goat’s cheese Feta.. is this really happening? I searched online for about 2 hours last night and emailed a few companies to find out if they could assist. I found a few with sheep’s milk. Pauline from Tomhixon kindly responded via email and let me know they have sheep’s milk Feta which might do but I am still looking for cow’s milk feta. Eventually I asked for help from Wirral Mums Group on Facebook. How sweet that some mums took time out of their crazy schedule to help my quest for THE Feta? (Thank you Helen Barrett)

Waitrose have an exclusively cow’s milk Feta. Problem is that they are almost an hour away and no delivery slots available. Ocado online supermarket also seems to have cow’s milk Feta and sheep’s milk but they don’t have any delivery slots available.

So, the question is, do I drive to Waitrose and buy Feta or do I wait until they have a delivery slot available which may only be in December…

In my quest to find my cow’s milk Feta I learned so much about the cheese itself. Originally made from sheep’s milk and later a mix of sheep and goat but never cow’s milk. Very interesting article for those who are interested about the real story of feta cheese

Dear Father Christmas

All I want for Christmas is cow’s milk fake Feta cheese.

All my love

Korina