Swiss Cheese Awards

Just when we think we’ve seen the best that Switzerland has to offer we discover a new area that we fall in love with.  That happened to us on our way to Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland (near the Italian border).  We went to Bellinzona by train via Lucerne and could tell that we have another area to see – more gorgeous Ireland-green countryside, waterfalls cascading off the steep cliffs that line the valley along the train tracks.

A couple of weeks ago Doug was so excited to tell me that he had read an article about the 8^th Annual Swiss Cheese Awards, booked a hotel in the town that was hosting the awards, and bought tickets to the evening gala (reservations limited).  Doug’s a late entrant to the cheese-lovers’ club – when we first met (over 30 years ago) he announced that he didn’t like cheese.  He’s done a 180-degree turn, and now collects cheese books, and is still trying to work his way through one book to try over 360 kinds of French cheese.

So off to Bellinzona we went, marveling at the efficiency of the Swiss transportation system that allows us to walk from our house to the bus, to the metro, to the train, and eventually to our hotel.  Bellinzona is the home of three famous 15^th century castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sasso Corbaro) and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The castles are lit at night and seem to glow above the city.

Just off the train in Bellinzona

The cheese contest judging was Saturday morning in the city hall courtyard, which was lined with about 30 pedestals of different types of cheese from all over Switzerland – some we were familiar with like Gruyère, Emmental, Vacherin and Raclette and others we’d never heard of Svitz, Applenzeller, L’Etivaz, and Berner Alpkase.   The judges were dressed in black vests, white aprons and red berets – with pens and clipboards in hand. Cheese judging is serious business– first the cheese is paraded by the judges so they can grade the appearance, then each judge helps themselves to a piece of cheese with their cheese knife that has a hook at the end to get a good hold of the cheese.   They sniff the cheese, pop it in their mouths, look up, look around, chew slowly, and write some notes on a form that is swiftly collected at the end of the judging.

As you can see from the photos there were only a few spectators…maybe 10-15, including Doug and I.  We were standing by a woman who was the wife of a judge, and heard him speak English to her, so we started to chat.  It turns out that they are cheese makers from Wisconsin who had won the World’s Best Cheese Award a few years back.  The next thing we knew, one of the French-speaking judges started to give us samples of the cheeses that they were judging – he must have assumed we were also former world cheese award winners (or perhaps their next door neighbors).   Luckily the cheese samples started near the end of the judging, but we were pretty sure we could never eat a bite of cheese again by the end of the competition.  We said goodbye to our new friends, and said that we would see them later at the gala. 

Seriously needing some exercise to work off the cheese bolus, we hiked up the hill to Castelgrande, the largest of the three castles.   Walking around the grounds it was easy to transport ourselves back to medieval times, imagining how the walls and ramparts protected the town from invaders.

As evening approached we were having some second thoughts about the gala. Why exactly did we think going to the Swiss Cheese Awards gala was a good idea?  It turned out that our trepidation was well-founded – the Swiss Cheese Awards "gala" is a 2 1/2 hour awards presentation in Italian-German-French, announcing each of the 30 winners of the different categories of Swiss cheese.  Since we don’t speak German or Italian, our understanding of the awards ceremony came and went as they moved through the different languages - the light would come on momentarily when they switched into French, only to go to darkness when German was spoken, and then dusk for Italian (it’s close to French, so we got about half of it).

As the night progressed we realized that we were probably the ONLY non-cheese-industry attendees to the gala.  Imagine going to a soccer awards dinner for a neighboring town and listening to the awards being presented, and three hours later getting your dinner.  Luckily our tablemates were mostly French speaking (so we could communicate), friendly and entertaining.  We hope to visit one who makes Fromaggio d’Alpe ticinese, and has a bed and breakfast above Gotthard pass in the Swiss-Italian Alps (sounds like a great bike ride in the spring). 

The French man (top left) managed to kiss all the women 

at the table at the end of the night

After our dinner was served, they made an announcement that seemed to excite everyone.  The dessert buffet was opening – a selection of each of the winners’ cheeses.  The gala attendees seemed genuinely giddy, and the line to the buffet was long.  I went through the line with Doug to give him moral support, and watched as each cheese maker looked Doug in the eye as they placed a piece of cheese on his plate.  He was incapable of saying no to any of them.  Thirty pieces of cheese later, he went back to the table to start on his dessert.

Doug at the end of the buffet looking a little worried 

At the end of the evening we visited the table of our new Wisconsin judge friend and his wife, who were incredulous that we were attending the “gala” that even the cheese makers dreaded.  “Someone didn’t research this” was his actual comment.  We were happy to be the brunt of the jovial table’s jokes, but at the end of the event, another Wisconsonian World Cheese Award winner at the table confided to me that it was refreshing to meet someone (aka Doug) so enthusiastic about cheese.  I’m sure they’re still chuckling at us in Wisconsin…

Parade in Bellinzona on Sunday

Cows coming down from the mountains for the winter (after the Alpenage)