Tradition, Authenticity and Expertise in and through Cypriot Easter flaounes

Abstract

Flaounes are festive cheese pies that are widely produced and consumed at Eastertime in Cyprus. This article explores how preparing, consuming and evaluating flaounes is interactionally constructed in everyday practices and naturally occurring interactions, written accounts and ethnographic interviews with Greek Cypriot participants residing in various regions of Cyprus and in the UK diaspora. An ethnomethodological perspective to identities, culture and society is employed to provide analyses of the participants’ local understandings of themselves and their social world and of categorizations of authenticity, tradition and change in relation to flaounes. It is shown that members, even when addressing the cultural and historical significance of flaounes, problematize categorizations of authenticity, while they construct tradition as compatible with innovation and change. For participants, however, the categorizations that have more relevance and importance relate to the taste and quality of the flaounes and the expertise of the maker. Practices around flaounes offer a prime site for positive self-presentation, where performance of culinary expertise intersects with gendered roles and Cypriotness.