Monday 1 October 2007

Blessed Are the Cheesemakers

"I have a feeling I'm going to eat my weight in cheese today."

That's a comment I overheard Saturday at the Great British Cheese Festival. It about sums up the day: cheese, cheese and more cheese. We're talking cow milk cheese, goat milk cheese and sheep's milk cheese; cheddar, Wensleydale, Stilton, Caerphilly.... Specially-trained cheese experts were judging cheeses in all sorts of categories, from "Semi-Soft" to something called "Modern British: Hard."

The names of the individual cheeses show what poets the British are: Norfolk Dapple, Dorset Blue Vinny, Extra Mature Smoked Gubbeen, St. Tola Fresh Crottin, Celtic Promise (a bronze winner in the semi-soft rind-washed category), Cornish Yarg, Old Sarum, Stinking Bishop.....

How'd you like a nice slice of Stinking Bishop?

I could tell you about the festival, and some of the cheesephiles I met there, but I've decided to show you. Here's my first Voxford Video:





I've also put the video on YouTube (if it isn't up yet, it should be soon, once it's done processing; I'm new to this Web video stuff):



I hope this doesn't make you too hungry. What was my favorite cheese? Smoked Lincolnshire Poacher. It's a cheddar-style cheese, lightly smoked. It was fabulous.

4 comments:

Suburban Correspondent said...

What? No cheese sculpture?

Kate said...

Oh my god, I'm so jealous! We realized a couple of months ago that there was no way we'd make it back from our US/Spain trips. We even blogged about our heartbreak about knowing we were going to miss it. Can't complain, though -- I think I had a half a pound of cheese every day I was in Spain. Cabrales and manchego ... mmmm.

مارية said...

Yeah I'm jealous too. But even if I'd known about it I wouldn't have been able to get myself there!

John Kelly said...

Hey Akinoluna. Good to hear from you again. Readers of John Kelly's Voxford should check out her blog (she's a female Marine) and especially her photographs.

And if you're hungry for more cheese stories:
http://tinyurl.com/yurahc