parish hill goes slow...

someone tipped us off that slow food’s slow cheese event was going to be all about natural cheese. not natural like on the label in the grocery, but natural like cheese made with (actual) raw milk, real rennet, local salt, and - oh my heart - autochthonous cultures!

i jumped online, went to italy, and it was all true! well, the idea was that after the 2017 Slow Cheese forced the focus to raw milk, and only raw milk cheese, the natural progression would be to go all the way and show that Natural is Possible!

i was over the moon. a whole town, street after winding street lined with natural cheesemakers talking about and tasting natural cheese! i sent off an email to the contact us at slow food, asking how we could be involved. the response was kind, but cool. after all, i’m sure all sorts of cheesemaking weirdos wanted to get in on it. but before long we heard back were very warmly invited to take part in a few different events. it turns out that while there are lots of makers of all scales (parmigiano reggiano!) making raw milk cheese, there are relatively few eschewing selected starters, so we were actually something kinda special even there…

the highlights of the trip are myriad, being in that town with street after winding street lined with raw milk cheeses and makes was profound. seeing the stacks of beautiful cheeses, talking to the makers, sharing slivers of our own dear cheeses, it was downright tectonic. and sitting on the dais with the other honorees wasn’t bad either.

xo, r.