The World Cheese Awards is a prestigious annual occasion. Normally, goudas, gorgonzolas, gruyères and more from over 40 different countries compete for the grand title of best cheese in the world. But this year, cheesemakers from the UK were robbed of that opportunity.
On their way to this year’s awards in Viseu, Portugal, it’s thought that up to 257 cheeses from 67 British producers didn’t get past customs. It’s not unusual for some cheeses not to make it to the awards, but the Guild of Fine Food (which organises the awards) has a special licence to import cheeses, and organisers say British cheesemakers complied with all the conditions.
John Farrand, the director of Guild Find Food: ‘The reasons are unclear to me, even on Friday we were still fighting to get some clarity and clear instruction on what wasn’t right, but we had no success.
He added that Britain leaving the EU is likely a factor: ‘Before Brexit, this wouldn’t have been a thing. That’s a fact.’
James Grant, a judge and co-founder of the Real Cheese Project, told the Observer that the incident is ‘devastating’.
He said: ‘The UK’s going through an incredible change as far as cheese is going. There’s an incredible amount of hard work from these cheesemakers who are putting handmade artisan cheese back on the map. It’s really, really sad.’
One producer, Sam Wilkin, added: ‘What it really shows is that it’s very hard to export cheese post Brexit. The Guild will have done everything in their power to make it happen, they will have dotted Is and crossed Ts, but if someone at the border decides something isn’t quite right, or they misinterpret a piece of paper, the whole thing falls apart.’
British fromage usually fares well at the awards. Last year, five of our cheeses won super gold, the year before, two were among the best 10 best cheeses on the globe and in 2017, a Cornish kern won the coveted top prize.
Award-winning Britain
It’s a huge shame that UK cheeses weren’t represented at this year’s World Cheese Awards. But perhaps a reminder of other recent wins could soothe the pain? One English vineyard was crowned one of the best in the world earlier this month, 10 UK steakhouses were among the top 100 on the globe, two British airlines were named the planet’s finest and six British pizzerias are officially the best in Europe.
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