Cheese 2005 Starts Tomorrow

The fifth edition of ‘Cheese: milk in all its shapes and forms’ will be held in Bra, Italy, from September 16-19. This biennial event, organized by Slow Food and the City of Bra, has become the leading international meeting for small cheese producers and follows the philosophy underlying the successful Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto events.

It aims to promote greater consumer awareness, providing the public with opportunities to taste and compare all the European PDO and PGI cheeses and featuring events and venues which showcase quality artisan dairy products. It thus brings products and producers from different parts of the world to the attention of the general public.

The main focus of the event this year will be goat cheeses. They will be highlighted along with other quality cheese products at traditional venues such as the Taste Workshops, the Great Hall of Cheese, meetings and presentations.

Since its first edition in 1997, ‘Cheese’ has enjoyed constant growth Here are some facts and figures from the last edition of Cheese held in 2003. There were 155,000 visitors, 4,000 students attending educational activities, 2,640 people attending Taste Workshops, 140 exhibitors from Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Greece, Ireland and Britain, and 40 Presidia from Italy, Denmark, Britain, Greece, Russia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the USA.

‘Don’t change a winning team’ says the old adage, so the format of Cheese 2005 will remain unchanged. Bra will thus again be hosting the Great Cheese Market, the Great Hall of Cheese with its Enoteca and a presentation of all the PDO and PGI cheeses from around Europe for tasting (151 different cheeses will be present, from 14 European countries ranging from Austria to Sweden), the Dinner Dates, an area for fun educational activities for children and the Tasting Booths.