Heady odours, sensory overload as 5,200 cheeses compete for World Cheese Awards
Bern (Switzerland), Nov 15: The first thing that hits you at the World Cheese Awards is the smell.
As the 37th edition – part competition, part a celebration of cheese – kicked off in Switzerland, some visitors might wish the offerings had more holes. With descriptions of odours including “stinky socks” and “sick dog,” it’s clearly a festival – and a challenge – for the nose as much as mouths, fingers and eyes.
Connoisseurs, culinary experts and curious consumers flocked to the three-day event in a country where cheese is both food and folklore. The first day got going with the competition, which featured over 5,200 cheeses, nearly one-fifth from Switzerland. Some 46 countries took part, a record count of competitors from Australia to Austria, Bulgaria to Brazil.
All those offerings in the same Bern exhibition hall made for an original mélange of odours. But once past that medley of smells, the sights, flavours and individual scents of the cheeses were tantalizing.
From ‘Stinking Bishop’ to camel cheese
John Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food in Britain, the event organiser, says some people who tell him they “don’t like cheese, it’s that awful smelly thing” just need to take time and consider the myriad choices.
“I would grab them and sit down with them and take them on that journey through cheese,” he said. “I get so many people say to me just impulsively I don’t like ‘blue cheese’ and that’s impossible really. There’s so much of a range of blue cheese from over here to over here,” – Farrand gesticulated around the hall – “there’s always a blue cheese for somebody.” He rhapsodised about a 120-kg wheel of cheese that teams rolled in and “broke” – or cut open – unleashing a powerful cloud of odour. “The aroma of this Emmentaler just hit me,” Farrand said. “That’s the first time that that cheese has released its greatness and the aroma… just makes you hungry.”
Some may turn up their noses at bacteria-blued “bleu” cheeses or reject the strong odours of varieties like Limberger, Taleggio, “Stinking Bishop” and Époisses de Bourgogne – a Burgundy specialty reputed to be Napoleon’s favourite, and one so stinky that urban legend claims it’s banned from public transport in France.
Others might not get over the hump of hesitation to taste a camel (or buffalo or donkey) cheese, or cringe at unpasteurised or squishy cheeses. More adventurous tasters will try the most gooey or moldy cheeses, looking for the most rich, creamy or meaty varieties on hand. (AP)
