Cheese 2015, the international biennial event dedicated to milk in all its shapes and forms, is to be held in Bra, Italy, home of the Slow Food movement,from September 18 to 21. Hundreds of producers from Italy and abroad will present their wares that range from cheese, animal breeds, bread and cereals to honey and jam.
Slow Food Presidia support quality productions at risk of extinction, protect unique regions and ecosystems, recover traditional processing methods and safeguard native breeds and local plant varieties.
At Cheese, the presidia products are presented with the narrative label, a system for food labelling packed with information about producers, breeds, production techniques, places of origin and animal welfare.
Visitors to the cheese market will be able to discover the extraordinary biodiversity of cheese production across the world: from Africa and the Balkans via the Pyrenees to the Alps and the pastures of Northern Europe.
In many European countries, the regulatory framework on food hygiene and food safety is a stumbling block for small food producers who play an important role in sustainable development and nature conservation in rural areas.
The regulatory framework on food hygiene and food safety is a stumbling block for small food producers
For example, in many Anglo-Saxon countries, hygienic food safety regulations for raw-milk cheese work against small-scale producers. The UK and Ireland will be represented at Cheese by the Artisan Somerset Cheddar Presidium and the Irish Raw Milk Cheeses Presidium, which is made up of 10 artisan dairies that work in their own distinctive styles with diverse techniques, but share a common commitment to producing a safe, high-quality product using raw milk.
The last two Belgian producers of raw-milk Herve, a soft, rind-washed cheese today threatened by the stringent hygiene requirements imposed by the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC), will also take part.
Bulgaria will be represtented by the Karakachan Sheep Presidium. This is a sheep breed on the verge of extinction – there are approximately just 400 remaining today. They will be joined by Tcherni Vit green cheese which is one of the very few cheeses in the world with natural blue marbling.
Also present will be presidia from Netherlands, the French Basque Country, the Swiss Alps, Norway, Iceland, Romania and Poland. Italy will be represented by 27 presidia which will include a wide variety of cheeses from Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Trentino Alto Adige, Lazio, Basilicata, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Calabria, Puglia, Campania, Sicily and Sardinia.
In Africa, the dairy production scene is challenging and differs from the situation in Europe. Climate change is causing serious problems for herders, the custom of milking goats is being lost and food safety issues are becoming a serious problem. There will be a special stand dedicated to displaying Africa’s biodiversity, where one may find camel milk soap handmade by the Karrayu herders in Ethiopia and meet other Slow Food presidia and food communities from Kenya and South Africa.
For more information, visit http://cheese.slowfood.com .