# Kiriakou on Greek and Cypriot food > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Kiriakou on Greek and Cypriot food," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-on-greek-and-cypriot-food/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The verdict John Kiriakou delivered on Cypriot cooking during a 2026 visit to the island — that its cheeses are more sophisticated and more distinct from one another than Greece's, where most are variations on a theme — together with his coffee positions, his conversion from frappé by a cousin in Rhodes, and his complaint about the size of the straw.* **Kiriakou on Greek and Cypriot food** records the comparison [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) drew between the two cuisines while in [Cyprus](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-cypriot-ancestry) in 2026, ten days into a stay on which he says he ate only Cypriot food.[1] ## The cheeses His judgement, offered as something that would *"sound silly"*, is that the cheeses of Cyprus are *"so much more sophisticated"* and more subtle than those of Greece.[2] The distinction he draws is structural rather than a matter of quality. In Greece there is feta at every meal, alongside kasseri, kefalotyri and kefalograviera, *"but most of them are variations on each other."* In Cyprus, for reasons he says he cannot explain, *"each cheese stands independently by itself"* — one nutty, one tasting of pine, one to be eaten with honey, and halloumi as *"the flagship of all the cheeses."* He put his own count that week at twenty different Cypriot cheeses.[3] On halloumi he adds a note on availability in the United States: until about five years earlier it could be found only in a specialty cheese shop or at Whole Foods, and sometimes at a Greek grocery — the aside being that *"most of the Greek stores are not owned by Greeks. They're owned by Egyptians,"* who bring in Egyptian products alongside. It is now sold everywhere, and he buys it constantly. The Cypriot version is saltier than the American, and he prefers it.[4][5] Asked to choose between feta and halloumi he took halloumi; between tzatziki and tirokafteri, tzatziki; between gyros and souvlaki, gyros. He had eaten sheftalia earlier the same week.[6] ## Coffee Kiriakou takes freddo cappuccino over freddo espresso, on a volume argument rather than a flavour one: he drinks so much coffee that the added milk simply means more of it.[6][7] He shares his interviewer's objection to the standard straw, which is too narrow to draw the drink up properly, and so does not use one.[8] He was a frappé drinker — *"frappé metrio"*, and never at breakfast — until a visit to Rhodes with his son, where his cousin Christo asked him why he drank it and answered his own question: it is Nescafé, and therefore bad coffee. Kiriakou switched, and concedes the point: the freddo is higher quality because the beans are ground rather than poured from a tin. *"He was right."*[9][10] He also claims a reading habit on the subject, saying he goes through the whole of any new coffee study that appears.[11] ## See also - [There is no such thing as bad food in Athens](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/no-bad-food-in-athens) - [Kiriakou's Cypriot ancestry](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-cypriot-ancestry) - [Kiriakou on travel](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-on-travel) - [Kiriakou on diet and nutrition](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-on-diet-and-nutrition) ## Sources 1. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — 'They Physically Removed My Stomach' (2026-06-01), at 23:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmAja1Rly0&t=1418s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-giorgos-omirou-clickbait-title-personal-channel-probe/ 2. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — 'They Physically Removed My Stomach' (2026-06-01), at 24:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmAja1Rly0&t=1449s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-giorgos-omirou-clickbait-title-personal-channel-probe/ 3. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — 'They Physically Removed My Stomach' (2026-06-01), at 24:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmAja1Rly0&t=1480s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-giorgos-omirou-clickbait-title-personal-channel-probe/ 4. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — 'They Physically Removed My Stomach' (2026-06-01), at 25:11. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmAja1Rly0&t=1511s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-giorgos-omirou-clickbait-title-personal-channel-probe/ 5. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — 'They Physically Removed My Stomach' (2026-06-01), at 25:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmAja1Rly0&t=1542s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-giorgos-omirou-clickbait-title-personal-channel-probe/ 6. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — 'They Physically Removed My Stomach' (2026-06-01), at 26:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmAja1Rly0&t=1574s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-giorgos-omirou-clickbait-title-personal-channel-probe/ 7. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — 'They Physically Removed My Stomach' (2026-06-01), at 26:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmAja1Rly0&t=1607s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-giorgos-omirou-clickbait-title-personal-channel-probe/ 8. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — 'They Physically Removed My Stomach' (2026-06-01), at 27:19. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmAja1Rly0&t=1639s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-giorgos-omirou-clickbait-title-personal-channel-probe/ 9. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — 'They Physically Removed My Stomach' (2026-06-01), at 27:50. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmAja1Rly0&t=1670s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-giorgos-omirou-clickbait-title-personal-channel-probe/ 10. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — 'They Physically Removed My Stomach' (2026-06-01), at 28:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmAja1Rly0&t=1701s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-giorgos-omirou-clickbait-title-personal-channel-probe/ 11. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou — 'They Physically Removed My Stomach' (2026-06-01), at 28:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmAja1Rly0&t=1731s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-giorgos-omirou-clickbait-title-personal-channel-probe/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-on-greek-and-cypriot-food/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt