Archaeology Magazine - March/April 1987 - 67

would be subject to spoilage if left
out for an hour or more while the next
dishes were baked. My goal was to
keep the oven on for one major block
of time ; as one item was baked the
next was made ready. Sometimes I
would prepare parts of a dish, such
as the tomato sauce, early in the day
before the heat intensified.
With all these items of equipment, however frustrating, in place,
plus a double- basined sink, plenty
of cupboard space, horizontal work
surfaces, and a cutting board, my
kitchen was supplied with the basics,
and I was ready to embark on the
adventure of shopping for provisions
in the local markets.

weeks.
Moving from stall to stall, I began
to get a feel for the variety of foods
available and for the prices. While
prices tend to be fairly uniform, quality and service vary with the vendor
and the rapport one builds. One gets
to know members of the family, and
exchange of gossip is part of every
transaction. News of what produce
can be expected the following week
can be picked up, and is useful in
menu planning. Often a few extra
tomatoes are thrown in to secure future patronage.
Shopping was not supposed to
be part of my job, since the Mukhtar
had told us that between his shop
and his trips to Larnaca he could
Lfike so many of life's routines, shop- keep us supplied with anything we
wanted. It was apparent what this
ping in Cyprus is a more social activity, takes longer, and is less predict- meant when I gave him my first shopable than in the United States.
ping lists. Often what he bought
When I first arrived, I naively thought
was not what I ordered, or else the
I would plan a week's menu in adquantity was far off the mark. This
vance and shop accordingly. This
resulted, for example, in my bringing
100 souvlaki skewers back to the
proved an impossibility, and not only
because of the shortage of refrigerUnited States as souvenirs. I had orated storage space. It was primarily
dered 50 but was presented with over
because of the uncertainties involved
2,000!
in acquiring many ingredients.
The quantity problem was partly
The small general store in the
the result of the Mukhtar's being
related to many of the local farmers.
village of Maroni is owned by the
Mukhtar (mayor). Although its stock When his relatives had a surplus of
is limited in both quantity and vasomething, most notably potatoes,
we would discover an extra crate in
riety, the store is useful for purchases
of staple dry goods and dairy items.
our courtyard. It became a challenge
It also serves as the village cafeneion , to invent different ways of using the
where the men gather to sip cofunordered items. A number of these
fee and gossip in the afternoon. Twice invented dishes were christened
a week the Mukhtar drives to the
"a la Mukhtar."
nearest market city, Larnaca, to purGoing to the market myself once
chase items for his shop and do era week improved the predictability
rands for himself and other villagers.
and quality of ingredients available
The dig director arranged to have
to cook. Getting to know the marthe Mukhtar pick up food for the dig
ket, the supermarket, and what could
on these trips.
be reliably supplied by the Mukhtar
Since I wanted to experience the
gave the widest possible choice of inmarket and get a sense of what was
gredients for menu planning. I also
available, arrangements were made
got to know the Mukhtar himself
for me to accompany the Mukhtar to
on these journeys, and that added
Larnaca on my first day. This joura human element to what could have
been an uncomfortable business
ney, a 45-minute drive, took seven
hours, incorporating visits to his var- relationship.
ious relatives along the way. I soon
I was told by the dig director,
learned that any successful trip to
Gerald, on my first day that I was
the market takes most of a day and
never to buy fish, because it was exrequires the careful cultivation of retremely expensive and would probalationships with individual vendors.
bly be frozen and imported. This
seems an irony in an island culture
My first purchase was a large market
basket, a necessity for carrying all
only to people who do not realize how
of the small bags of fresh produce.
overfished the Mediterranean is.
Next I bought some basil plants,
Pork is the meat most often availawhich provided us with an ample sup- ble, and is frequently cooked with
coriander and wine. The fresh leaves
ply of fresh leaves over the next six

Hanging elephant garlic and crates of
fresh produce are featured in the market
at Larnaca.
of coriander are also popular in
Cyprus, being served in salads along
with roquette, a green-leafed plant
of the mustard family also called
arugula. Not only is meat expensive;
after seeing it at the market, where
there was no ice and very little refrigeration, I wondered about the
safety of buying it fresh. I ended up
getting meat at the supermarket or
fresh chickens from the Mukhtar; I
could order them in the morning and
have them ready by early afternoon.
The supermarket was where I
bought spices, coffee, whole wheat
flour, crackers, meat, and a number
of cheeses. Although it was not as
much fun as the market, quality control was evident for foods that could
easily spoil, and I could find unusual
spices and other interesting items.
1987
March/April

Archaeology Magazine - March/April 1987

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