CHEESE 2001 – Cheese for Kids

‘Cheese for Kids’, a mini tasting course for children, is a new feature of the Slow Food ’Cheese’ festival, and after the success it has enjoyed over the last few days,, it is bound to be a long-running event. On Saturday 22 and Sunday 23, hundreds of under 10 year-olds tied on aprons and got cooking with artisan producers, chefs and teachers. The kids learned the techniques and secrets to prepare a lunch all by themselves. For lunch, they made fine sheets of dough for the preparation of tagliatelle, mixed sausage and beef to make meat balls and rolled out pizza dough for classic Margherita pizza. Under the watchful eyes of professional cooks and artisan producers, the kids mixed and blended and stirred. Most importantly, they ate a delicious home-made lunch. In the afternoon, after lunch and a pause, the kids headed off to see the producers and learn about where food comes from. One group went to see the Mosso brother’s dairy, where the cheesemakers demonstrated and explained all of the phases of the cheese-making process – from milking the cows to aging the cheese. At the end of the day, the 350 young participants (150 Saturday and 200 Sunday) went home with a better understanding of where their food comes from and a new appreciation of the pleasures of the Slow table.