{"id":33252,"date":"2018-02-25T15:48:54","date_gmt":"2018-02-25T20:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=33252"},"modified":"2021-09-21T17:00:51","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T21:00:51","slug":"a-world-of-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/a-world-of-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the World Cheese Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

In November 2016 I arrived in San Sebasti\u00e1n, Spain, to judge the World Cheese Awards. In front of me stood 3,021 cheeses from 31 countries, adorning tables filling a room the size of a football field. Every type of wheel and wedge imaginable made an appearance \u2014from traditional camembert and cheddar to Mozambican ch\u00e8vre rolled in cashew nuts and dipped in chile-chocolate sauce to a Mexican wheel infused with orange blossom honey and topped with edible flowers.<\/p>\n

There was even an Australian cheese called Anthill, its lemony tang accentuated by a coating of native green ants. Per usual, European cheesemakers dominated the competition\u2014but the number of winners from outside the continent reached an all-time high. Non-European cheeses earned 18 percent of all medals; submissions hailed from Brazil, Croatia, Slovakia, Estonia, South Africa, and more.<\/p>\n

The highest honor\u2014the World Champion award\u2014went to a Norwegian wheel called Kraftkar. Produced by Tingvollost, a small farm on Norway\u2019s northwestern coast, the small-batch blue cheese is an outlier in a country known for its traditional gjetost, pultost, and gamalost.<\/p>\n

According to John Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food (the UK-based show organizer), Kraftkar\u2019s success \u201cturned a few heads.\u201d After all, how could a Norwegian blue compete with the Stiltons and Roqueforts of the world? This underdog wins point to globalizing forces in cheese. Take the availability of cultures, or microbes added to milk during cheesemaking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Award-winning Kraftkar. Photo by Tommy Rustad<\/p><\/div>\n

Historically these organisms, which play a role in flavor, texture, and rind development, were nurtured and adapted locally. Mold spores of Penicillium roqueforti, for example, which give Roquefort its blue veining, traditionally were sourced from caves in the Aveyron region of southern France. Today, thanks to technologies enabling factory production, makers anywhere\u2014from Norway to Brazil to Japan\u2014can order these mold spores directly to their doorsteps.<\/p>\n

The same goes for access to cutting-edge equipment, supplies, and advice; anyone can access the resources of a connected world. \u201cNetworks facilitating technical and marketing support, as well as the internet, are likely to drive the success of cheesemakers from \u2018non-traditional\u2019 countries in the future,\u201d says Paul Thomas, a UK-based dairy technologist and World Cheese Awards judge.<\/p>\n

International collaboration between consultants such as Thomas and budding makers often results in award winners. Case in point: Tingvollost worked with French dairy specialist Pascale Baudonnel, who shared the intricacies of making authentic Roquefort\u2014lessons that undoubtedly shaped the crafting of world champion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"nordic\"<\/a>

Award-winning Kraftkar. Photo by Tommy Rustad<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The way contests are judged may evolve, too. A truly global competition requires assembling a team of experts equal to the task\u2014professionals with a range of knowledge and experience reflecting the diversity of submissions. To a European judge, traditional Brazilian queijo Canastra might seem abnormally bitter; in Brazil, its bitterness is a mark of quality.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cJudging is a huge responsibility\u2026 to understand the intent of the producer.\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For this reason, Farrand takes pride in diversifying the contest\u2019s judges. \u201cWe have judges representing every corner of the world, from Barbados and Japan and South Africa to Brazil,\u201d he says. Carlos Yescas, founder of Mexican artisan cheese distributor Lactography and World Cheese Awards judge, recognizes the impact of inviting judges from beyond \u201cthe regular curdy circuit\u201d of France, Switzerland, and England. \u201cIf you have judges who are only experts in cheddar, everything that is not cheddar will not be up to standard,\u201d he says. \u201cJudging is a huge responsibility to try to understand the intent of the producer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yescas\u2019 comment reflects the most valuable piece of advice I received while judging the World Cheese Awards alongside Swiss affineur Jean-Louis Andr\u00e9: \u201cAsk yourself not if it is a good cheese,\u201d he told me, \u201cbut if it is a good example of what the cheese is supposed to be.\u201d Of course, ideal wheels rely on talented producers. \u201cUltimately, quality depends on the cheesemaker,\u201d Thomas says. Farrand chalks up increasing global successes to the efforts of innovative makers around the world. \u201cAs small producers begin to craft outstanding examples,\u201d he explains, \u201cthis leads to cheese communities emerging and going on to thrive. It\u2019s all about passion at the grassroots level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tingvollost\u2019s Kraftkar is representative of this phenomenon\u2014of how a family farm with a small herd of cows could singlehandedly \u201cexpose Norway as a serious cheese nation and firmly remove a clich\u00e9,\u201d Farrand says. With each year that passes, the growing success of international makers reminds us that good cheese speaks for itself, no matter where it was made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In November 2016 I arrived in San Sebasti\u00e1n, Spain, to judge the World Cheese Awards. In front of me stood 3,021 cheeses from 31 countries, adorning tables filling a room the size of a football field. Every type of wheel and wedge imaginable made an appearance \u2014from traditional camembert and cheddar to Mozambican ch\u00e8vre rolled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":33253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27800,11143],"tags":[2482,2479,2478,1548,2481,2480,1892],"coauthors":[1066],"class_list":["post-33252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards","category-events","tag-carlos-yescas","tag-cheese-competition","tag-cheese-judge","tag-kraftkar","tag-norway","tag-norwegian-cheese","tag-world-cheese-awards"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInside the World Cheese Awards - culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A cheese 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