THE REAL THING

18/02/21

It was Valentine’s Day in Auckland. It was a perfect day and two elderly Valentines (the YOLO CEO with the Unlikely Food Blogger) went out for lunch.

I ordered a Halloumi and Chicken Salad and was salivating by the time it was delivered to our table. But, no … it was not what I’d envisioned. The Halloumi definitely wasn’t from the YOLO stable. It was pale and floppy – not golden and delicious like its YOLO counterpart.

I was about to storm the kitchen and have some words with the chef. But, the kindly CEO advised against it. And I had to agree it wouldn’t be a good look for me to rush in with the flaccid Halloumi on a fork. Ever the peacemaker, he said he’d talk to the buyer for the chain of restaurants when the time was right.

But, this disappointing plate of food got me thinking about real quality ingredients and how we should be enjoying those – especially in these fraught pandemic days. With the YOLO Halloumi (now also in lime and chilli as well as Mediterranean herbs) you get an affordable and authentic product produced in Europe. We have some superb cheesemakers here in this country, but I believe it’s very hard to beat the original products.

Our YOLO Spanish Manchego is straight from La Mancha (where old Don Quixote went tilting windmills) from sheep raised there and our UK cheeses are often produced by companies who have been making cheese since the 1800s.

CEO, Adel Yousef, has spent years and travelled extensively to create the YOLO range of cheeses. Of course, it’s up to the individual (if you go for floppy or a firmly-textured Halloumi) but if you haven’t tasted YOLO cheeses don’t waste valuable time!

I have not blogged for many months for a whole raft of reasons, but hope 2021 will be a good year for you and yours. We will obviously face further COVID challenges, but we Kiwis are made of tough stuff…

Cheers

Robyn Yousef

(Unlikely Food Blogger)