Tales from a Cyprus Village Coffee Shop Ch 2

The Mulberry Bush

“Here we go round the mulberry bush on a cold and frosty morning.” If you are English, you almost certainly know the nursery rhyme. However, I bet you have never seen a mulberry bush. For a start mulberries don’t grow on bushes; they grow on trees. However, I have to say that in all my years in England, I have never seen a mulberry tree there.

Visitors to my Kafestiatorion in Cyprus, however, are welcomed with the site of a mulberry tree at a corner entrance to the grounds. Visitors will often suddenly notice the tree as they sit at their table, drinking or eating, and get up to pluck the delicious, vitamin-packed fruit.

Mulberry trees provide a good habitat for the cultivation of silkworms and there is a connection here with my family background. One of my great grandfathers on the Greek side had a silkworm farm in Smyrne (now known as Izmir following the “Big Catastrophe” of 1922). An anecdote relating to mulberry trees is to be found in my article, “Smyrne to Lageia, the 106 year journey”. https://www.cyprusalive.com/en/smyrne-to-lageia-cyprus

A Russian couple once arrived at the Kafestiatorion, saying “We read about Your restaurant in Russian. We would like to order the Greek meatballs.” I realised that they had read the Russian version of the Smyrne article and were referring to my “Soutzoukakia Smyrneika”.

“Soutzoukakia Smyrneika” are a dish of the day. I can’t guarantee that they will be available when you turn up unless you have ordered some days in advance to enable me to buy in the mince from Choirokitia (twenty mins drive away). However, come every day when mulberries are in season and you can feel free to enjoy the succulent fruit from our tree.