Ottawa City
April/May 2005
BITE: Bulgarian Feta
Feta is one of my desert island foods. Its ability to compliment everything from olives and figs to lamb and legumes puts it at the top of my shopping list. Most of the time I crumble it on cucumbers and tomatoes, but let's be honest - feta never met a vegetable it didn't like. It's the perfect briny foil for fresh green beans, asparagus and spinach. Lately I've become enamoured with the colourful contrast of snowy white chunks of feta and thick wedges of ruby red beet. I love how the tangy cheese transforms the humble root into a dazzling sweet and savoury salad.
But for all of its versatility, its many personalities can be baffling. Supermarkets and deli counters might offer several fresh white cheeses with varying tastes and textures. Even different batches of the bulk variety can be saltier or more prickly-tasting from one week to the next. Then there are all of the packaged fetas to choose from-Greek, Macedonian, French, Canadian; low-fat, double-cream, marinated with sun-dried tomatoes. It's reached the point that I'm bringing home a different feta every week in a kind of cavalcade of hits and misses.
One day I wandered into Alpha Food (196 Main St. 238-3837), a small Middle Eastern grocery store that specializes in Persian teas and spices. When I inquire about feta, the shopkeeper assures me that the Bulgarian feta he sells will be the best one I'll ever taste. I take home a half-kilo block ($7.49) and in spite of my initial skepticism, quickly confirm his prediction. Breaking off a creamy piece, it crumbles and almost melts between my fingers. The texture is perfect, but taste? Mellow with a slight tang and a delectable herby flavour. It's also less aggressively salty than many others. As I savour this delicious discovery, I can't help wonder - are their any desert islands off the coast of Bulgaria? --- Shawna Wagman
