CHEESE 2005 – NEW INTERNATIONAL CHEESE PRESIDIA
SlowFood, Italy
Sept 19 2005
On Saturday, at ‘Cheese 2005’ (Bra, September 16-19), Piero Sardo,
President of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, presented a
series of new Slow Food Cheese Presidia from all over the world.
Agnesa Sargsyan, of the Motal Presidium (Armenia), accompanied by
producer Vanik Chgroyan spoke about their distinctive goat cheese,
matured in clay to preserve it for the winter. Today it is only
produced by families, but the Presidium hopes to create new markets,
hence improved development prospects.
Kamal Mouzawak, a journalist and Slow Food representative based in
Beirut, amazed the audience with Darfiyeh, a raw goat’s milk cheese
preserved with layers of ricotta in a goat skin, washed, sewn and
salted on the inside.
Another product that captured the public’s imagination was Yak Cheese
from the Chinese province of Qinghai. Paola Vanzo, a representative
of the Trace Foundation, a New York City-based non-profit NGO for the
promotion of the cultural continuity and sustainable development of
Tibetan communities within China, explained how, in collaboration with
AVEC (Association of Veterinary Surgeons for Developing Countries)
and the Slow Food Foundation, it has been possible to build a dairy
for a school for nomad children founded by the Tibetan monk, Jigme
Gyaltse, who was also present at the meeting.
Two young Italian cheesemakers, Massimo Nurisso and Massimo Mercandino
went to Tibet for a few months to teach herders a processing technique
that allows them to produce a cheese suitable for aging, hence for
surviving the long journeys required to reach new markets.
Mihai Pasku of the Brânza de burduf Presidium (Romania) proudly
described the history of his native area and the cheese that reflects
its identity. As the producer Dorin Olteanu pointed out, Brânza can
age from 40 days to several months and the more it matures the more
piquant it becomes.
Last but not least, Pascale Baudonnel, dressed in a colorful
traditional Norwegian costume, outlined the history of artisan
Geitost, produced in the village of Undredal on the fjord of Sogne,
a sweet brown cheese made with the whey from raw goat’s milk. It is
currently produced only by the Undredal Stolsysteri cooperative.
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