Caseophile

International Cheese Awards Show opens in Nantwich, Cheshire

This well attended annual show in the North of England, featuring competitors from 26 countries opened on 27^th July.

For more info and a list of winners go to their website:

www.internationalcheeseawards.co.uk

And it is also currently featured on the BBC website – where you can have some fun with its activities. Try www.bbc.co.uk/news.

The Brie festival in Meaux – 2-3 July

This takes place every year. And what's special this time is a celebration of the 20^th anniversary of the Confrérie du Brie de Meaux. A number of other cheese "brotherhoods" will come along for the feast – from Melun, Maroilles, Neufchâtel, the cheese makers from the Comtois region and from Montereau.

Also joining in will be the confréries of wine waiters of Gailla, vintners of Cep Henri IV, cider producers of Goustes, Mirabelle (plum brandy) makers of Lorraine, makers of bergamote and macaroons of Nancy, the "Knights" of the Apple and producers of barley sugar of Moret sur Loing and of haricot beans from Soissons.

What a feast! My only problem is that I'm not sure I'll be able to be there this time around!...

Cambremer 2011 Food Fair – Saturday 30 April - Sunday 1st May

Time does fly – it's 17 years since the first AOC/AOP product festival took place in Normandy.

For those unaware, these are protected food products under French and European law – AOC standing for "Protected Origin Nomenclature" at a national French level while AOP is, like IGP, a European system of protection and valorisation of agro-alimentary products.

Under the leadership of Michèle Frêné (another great lover of good tasting food), this fair has gone from strength to strength.

Every year at this gathering in the little village of Cambremer, between Lisieux and Caen, there is a special feature and in 2011, it is the turn of 50 AOC/AOP products from the Rhône Alpes to be featured. A special delivery in big trucks, which our little Normandy cow had never set eyes on before.

Jean-Pierre Coffe is a devotee of this event. This year he will chair a round table to debate the subject of "What actions should Regions take to defend their AOC/AOP products".

Not forgetting the cookery demonstrations, and above all... the cheese tasting sessions run by Gérard Petit, MOF, and other specialists who, with passion, will have you discover their products.

And if you are over here in the East, on the same day there will be a "chocolate and drinks" workshop in my delicatessen – L'Epicerie du Goût in Nancy. A delightful surprise for your taste buds!

More info at www.lesrencontresdecambremer.fr

Pastoral beauties from this year’s Salon de l’Agriculture

Every year I have my set of cow portraits ... here is my 2011 herd. They were on parade a couple of weeks ago at that major annual agricultural show in Paris and I always ensure you get a good look at them – so here is this year's cow parade. Firstly our own Candy – alone in the limelight and then her "cousins" of the same breed, from the Vosges area, then some others having a bit of a rest and finally some small but oh so attractive ladies (Herens, Jersey and Breton Pie noire).

    

The star cow at the forthcoming Salon de l’Agriculture

My favourite cow – the Vosgienne - has been chosen as the star at the 2011 Salon de l'Agriculture, due to open shortly at the Porte de Versailles exhibition hall in Paris.

A nod of recognition to those gallant breeders of this little rustic animal, well suited to the climatic conditions of the Vosges mountainous area, a source of good milk and meat. In short a champion. Let's count on her to be a show off under those flashbulbs of visitors.

Salon International de l'Agriculture

19-27 February 2011 – Porte de Versailles – Paris

Full info on www.salon-agriculture.com (in English too!)

Is Chimay the cheese capital of Belgium?

I know some people who ground their teeth when they heard this said for the first time. How on earth does the Belgian company that makes and markets the famous "Chimay" Trappist cheese (I can assure purists that this company does in fact belong to the Trappist abbey of Notre Dame de Scourmont, otherwise better known by the name of its nearby town – Chimay) ... yes, how on earth could this company proclaim that the Auberge de Poteaupré, also called the Abbey, is at the centre of the Belgian cheese world?

Well, it's quite simple ... by inviting all the Belgian cheese makers to come to its grand cheese festival. You can check the very detailed programme of the second such event by clicking here.

This past weekend I discovered there some fabulous cheeses. A small country perhaps ... but BIG cheese makers. And not all of them were there, far from it. There were 24 coming from different Belgian provinces:

Namur

• La Fermière de Méan
• Fromagerie du Gros Chêne
• La Ferme fromagère de Chertin

Liège

• Cynorhodon
• Fromagerie du Vieux Moulin
• Herve Société
• Fromagerie du Bairsou
• La Cave du Fromager
• Ferme du chemin Chataigne
• Fromagerie des Ardennes

Hainaut

• Ferme Le Bailli
• Le Chevret chimacien
• Biolé
• Ferme du Mouligneau
• Jacquy Cange

Brabant wallon

• La Chèvrerie du Cadeau

Anvers

• Polle Kaas

Flandre orientale

• Het Hinkelspel

Luxembourg

• Chèvrerie d'Ozo

Brabant flamand

• Fromagerie Biévénoise

Limbourg

• Peter Verbruggen

Flandre occidentale

• De Moerenaar
• De Beauvoordse Walhoeve
• Fromagerie de Damme

So let's just look at some pictures of their mastery ... to be eaten in no moderation at all!

Poor old mozzarella ... more bad news!

This time it's all about those Italian consumers who got an unpleasant surprise, having bought their mozzarella (that's their favourite cheese) in a discount store, on seeing it turn blue just after opening it up!

(Here's a photo from the newspaper Le Monde's website)

However Italy's honour is safe – as it was caused by a pseudomonas fluorescens which got into a batch made in ... Germany! Oh dear! All far removed from what one expects from Italian tradition or German technological expertise.

In fact more that a tonne of these cheeses were seized by the Italian sanitary authorities and the incident is under investigation throughout the European Union, as some stock was even found in Slovenia...

The “Mountain Tastes and Mountain Know-How” Salon in Gap 22/23 May 2010

This will be the third "Salon Savoirs et Saveurs de Montagne" (to give it its true name) organised by Slow Food in Gap (Convivium : Colporteur)! I'm impressed by the high standard of their organisation.

And also by those taking part - producers who'll come along to present their wares. Among these you'll find by chance mountain cheeses.

;-)

I've picked out "la petite ferme de Marie", but it's not me hiding behind this little farm, but a lady cheese maker of farmhouse St Nectaire – in other words, the "GAEC Pré-Jourdan" the producer of farmhouse Roblochon and farmhouse tomme de Savoie cheese...

And here are some extra details about the salon, found on the www.salon-saveursde montagne.fr website:

• A producers' market - from the French and Italian mountain areas, together with guests from the PACA region in the South of France. From the Alps to the plain of the Camargue!
• Some convivial and educational events such as the "Manger Slow" (Eat Slow Food) stand where professionals and amateurs share together with you their know-how.
• Taste workshops –the Slow Food core activity where you can delight in their best products under the direction of considerate professionals.
• Round tables and debates to help you understand the opportunities and risks in food production and the new relationships between producers and consumers.
• Young consumers will not be forgotten this year with an "Espace Découverte" (Discovery Space) set out for them where they can choose to learn how to make pasta or brousse (a Provencal soft cheese made with goat or sheep milk), understand how our senses work or how you make cheese from milk or to learn the advantages of organic agriculture. They'll learn, play and ... have a feast!

The SIREST professional restaurant show (6-10 March 2010)

It's called "SIREST Ideas" and it's aimed at professionals in the "out-of-home" restaurant business which alternates with the SIRHA show, but in Paris instead of Lyon.

Under the direction of Joël Robuchon, it will take place this year at Villepinte (near Charles de Gaulle airport) and no longer at the Porte de Versailles. There's more space – so more people.

On the programme: Finger Food, New ideas for my lunch box, The French Selection of the Bocuse d'Or, the international selection for the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie. The French Open for desserts, a young French Talent competition and in partnership with the Le Chef magazine: Le Festival de la Créativité Gastronomique.

More info on the www.sirest.com website.

The 2010 Salon de l’Agriculture opens in Paris in 2 weeks

From 27 February to 7 March the "biggest farm in Europe" will be opening its doors. Its German counterpart the "Grüne Woche" in Berlin which closed 2 weeks or so ago attracted 400,000 visitors. We expect to welcome again some 700,000 in Paris.

This year a rather amusing cow is there to welcome you in – and I challenge you to recognise its breed … it appears that it is a Salers! Oh, yes?! I don't recognise it.

Anyway, this year there will be quite a gathering of less common cows:

Armoricaine
Béarnaise
Bordelaise
Bretonne pie noire
Casta
Ferrandaise
Froment du Léon
Lourdaise
Maraîchine
Mirandaise
Nantaise
Saônoise and Villard de Lans

… a good initiative, don't you think ? And in addition you'll find three typical Scottish breeds: Aberdeen Angus, Belted Galloway and Highland Cattle (these I love, for their superb horns).

Furthermore, young and old will be able to come across three characters from a dream world: the Guardian of the Forests, the Queen of the Meadows and the Gingerbread Man.

Not to forget either, the "natural beauty and fashion" village, the "natural habitat" village, where you will find such surprises as insulation material made from hemp and pillows stuffed with linseed. A wide choice of natural products for the household will be on offer and the "garden and countryside" village will be there to show a selection of unusual objects for the decoration of your garden, terrace or balcony.

Add to that, the world tour of culinary delights situated this year in Hall no. 2.2 (and there's the Swiss stand too, of course…)

So note the dates in your diary!Nad pay a visit to their website in English

The milks of the world

Did you know that neither China nor Japan waited until the 20^th century to discover the delights of milk? Unbelievable but true, from the sixth century AD, the Qimin Yaoshu, the famous agricultural treatise of Jia Sixie, was already talking about preserving milk through dehydration and drying… Were you aware that in the high plateaux of Central Asia and Ethiopia, butter and cheese are being made from fermented milk? That powdered milk is available alongside local milk in West Africa?

These few examples are just to whet your appetite (or thirst) as you can learn more about milk production and usage if you attend the international conference of the OCHA on 6-7 May 2010 at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris , a multi-disciplinary gathering entirely bi-lingual French / English.

 

Eurogusto: another Slow Food event in Tours – 27-30 November 2009

It's great to know that Slow Food is planning this event in France – our equivalent of the Salone de Gusto they held recently in Milan.

Over 100 exhibitors, tasting sessions (including one on cheese to be run by my friend Paul Le Mens, a great specialist of cheese tasting) plus a "vinothèque" of wines, activities for children etc… etc.

You'll find all the info about it on www.eurogusto.org

But why hold it in Tours?

Because that's where you'll find the IEHCA (the European Institute for History and Culture of Food) who are organising at the same time the 5^th "Rencontres François Rabelais" symposium on the subject of "Is gastronomy worth the effort?" on Friday 27^th and Saturday 28^th November, led by Marc Meneau. There'll be 6 round tables on both tourism and gastronomy… and it all looks like being an instructive experience.

Full program on the website www.iehca.eu

23rd Cheese and Wine Fair in Antony: 11-13 September 2009

The latest Cheese and Wine Fair is programmed to take place in Antony in the Paris region very soon. Don't miss it if you are in the area. The star cheese this year will be the Sainte Maure de Touraine AOC/AOP (=PDO in the UK). This explains the chosen mascot for the Fair –a little crow dressed up like King François 1er, who came from that part of France.

I recall with pleasure the 21^st show, when Switzerland was given priority and I did a children's tasting session. And if you want to see me in action, just go into the dailymotion website

Cheese festival in Savoie – 12th July in Abondance

After Thônes in 2006, Yennes in 2007, the cheese network in Savoie is preparing its annual "fête" in Abondance. In the programme, a discovery of 7 cheeses from Savoie and Haute Savoie all endowed with the AOC quality control.

• Abondance
• Beaufort
• Chevrotin
• Savoie Emmenthal
• Savoie Reblochon
• Tomme from Bauges
• Tomme from Savoie

 Not forgetting events such as the milking of cows, cheese making workshops, different sorts of cuisine, other novelties… As well as cultural activities with an exhibition of From'Art (we might call it "cheese art"), guided tours of key sites, artistic workshops, wood sculpture, botanical tours… as well as a restaurant area and an art exhibition.

More info shortly on www.fromagesdesavoie.com.fr – only in French.