Awards ceremony rolls out red carpet for Swiss cheese

Judging cheese is serious business, even for Mr. Switzerland, Tobias Rentsch (left) Keystone

Cheese producers and lovers of everything from Gruyère to Camembert gathered in Bern last week for the inaugural Swiss Cheese Awards.

The ceremony, attended by hundreds of Swiss cheese producers, was the culmination of a three-day event in the Swiss capital designed to promote home-produced cheese and encourage consumers to try less well-known varieties.

Anton Schmutz, director of Fromarte, an umbrella organisation of Swiss cheese makers, told swissinfo there was a serious motive behind the unusual ceremony.

“It’s very important we promote Swiss cheese now because in a few years we will have an open market with Europe and we need to show the huge variety of cheeses on offer,” he said.

Judging cheese

An 80-strong jury tasted no fewer than 300 Swiss cheeses in 20 categories during a marathon day of judging.

“Some of the most important criteria in judging a cheese include how it tastes, how it looks as a whole, as well as its texture and smell,” Schmutz told swissinfo.

“But the most important thing is of course the flavour,” he added.

Varieties of Emmental cheese – “the most important cheese for Switzerland”, Schmutz believes – were represented in several categories, but soft and blue cheeses were also included in the contest.

Switzerland may be best known for its hard cheeses from the Emmental and Gruyère regions, but Fromarte is keen to promote other regional varieties on a national and European level.

“We even had one blue cheese, which is very unusual in Switzerland but it really is an excellent cheese,” Schmutz said.

“The problem is that it’s too difficult to compare an Emmental cheese with, say, an Appenzeller or a Gruyère cheese, so we didn’t select an overall winner,” Schmutz explained.

Prize as trademark

The recipients of the awards in all categories were handed a glittering trophy (in the shape of a wedge of cheese, naturally), which entitles them to use the Swiss Cheese Award label on their winning product for one year.

Francis Berard, a Fribourg-based producer who won the coveted title of best Vachérin cheese, seemed delighted to be clutching his trophy.

“This is a very great feeling,” he told swissinfo.

“It is very nice to get such a prize…and for sure I will use this title on our cheese as a trademark and we will see what the result will be.”

Organisers of the event did not declare there to be a single, overall winning cheese, since the judges decided it was not possible or fair to compare different varieties on a like-for-like basis.

Wide variety

Just a few minutes’ walk from the venue for the ceremony, a local cheese shop in Bern provides visible proof of the astonishing variety of cheeses on offer, every one of which has its own distinct taste, texture, size – and smell.

Hans Megert, owner of the city’s Chäsbueb cheese shop, says the varieties most in demand are those that have had time to ripen and mature.

“I even have one 100-year-old cheese,” Megert said.

“It’s still got a lot of flavour and has a strong aroma,” he added.

It is reassuring to note that the centenary cheese is not for sale and is no longer kept on the premises, perhaps because Megert fears its smell might deter customers from ever setting foot inside his store.

Celebrity cheese

Though the award ceremony itself may have lacked the glamour of the Oscars and the glitz of Miss World, several Swiss celebrities were drafted in to lend their support to the event.

Tobias Rentsch, recently voted Mr Switzerland, handed out the awards to the winning cheese producers, while Evelyne Binsack, who in 2001 became the first Swiss woman to mount a successful attempt on the summit of Mt Everest, was named “Miss Fromarte”.

Binsack says she has more reason than most to give thanks for Swiss cheese: she took some up Everest in her rucksack as part of her daily rations.

“I had some Swiss cheese from the Bernese Oberland with me, but unfortunately at high altitude it doesn’t matter what you have, you don’t really feel like eating it,” Binsack admitted.

Nevertheless, organisers of the 2001 awards would surely have been glad to know that, for a brief moment at least, Swiss cheese really did make it to the top of the world.

by Ramsey Zarifeh