"We will show you the traditional products and cuisine of Cyprus and how modern Cyprus is taking these traditions and re-inventing them for the 21st Century."
Aristos Constantine
Cyprus Trade Commissioner
The Cyprus Trade Center is the Commercial Section of the Cyprus High Commission, operating as an extended arm of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism. It is one of the eleven export promotion missions of the Republic of Cyprus. New York Mayor Bloomberg was the honored guest at this December 2008 Cypriot Trade Commission event.
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Love Cyprus!—From Traditional to Modern
By Karla Guerreri
Even though Cyprus is a small country, with a population of slightly less than 800,000 and an area of 3,572 sq mi (about twice the size of Rhode Island), it has an illustrious history, with evidence of hunter-gatherers on the island as far back as 10,000 BC and villages in 8,200 BC. This predates even Greece's history. According to Greek legend, the goddess of love, Aphrodite, emerged from Cyprus. Because of its geographic location, in the far eastern portion of the Mediterranean Sea, Cyprus has been a crossroads for many cultures including Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian, Turkish, Venetian, and British. At various times in its long history Cyprus has been colonized by each of these societies.
Each culture brought with them their own culinary traditions, which the permanent residents absorbed and converted to suit their own culture and climate. Cyprus attained independence in 1960. Today Cyprus is part of the European Union, has adopted the Euro, and has the third highest GDP in the European Union, after that of Luxembourg and Malta. For a more complete history of Cyprus visit Wikipedia.