Behind a natural cheese there are not only milk, rennet and salt, there is a whole world made of biodiversity, of grass-fed animals, of cheesemakers who take care of the environment in which they live. For Andrea Cavallero, professor of Alpiculture at the Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Food Sciences of the University of Turin “it is fundamental to start from the type of feeding of the animals. In grass-fed cheeses we find the richness of the biodiversity of the pastures on which the animals have fed: only in the Western Alps there are 90 different types of pasture. We find the care with which the cheesemakers have taken care of their garments and the attention with which they protect the environment in which they live every day. All of this is transformed into high quality cheeses with remarkable organoleptic complexity».
This highly topical theme will be at the center of the debate that in September will develop around Cheese 2019, the event of natural cheeses to be held in Bra from 20 to 23 September organized by Slow Food. «Until 20 years ago - adds Cavallero - it was normal for herbivorous animals to feed on grass, while today it seems like a great novelty to be reintroduced. Let's not forget that a well-kept pasture, the result of correct management, is an important element in enhancing the uniqueness of the Alps and the northern Apennines and a response to abandonment. Furthermore, the grazing system has significant environmental benefits in terms of landscape conservation, contrast to hydrogeological risk, maintenance of biodiversity of flora and fauna but also in terms of CO2 absorption present in the atmosphere, thus helping to combat climate change.
After the battles against the use of powdered milk, this year Cheese has decided to raise the bar: the theme of the event, Natural is possible, ideally constitutes a stage in the path which, starting from the battle in favor of raw milk, arrives at natural cheeses. “That is, those made from raw milk – he says Silvia de Paulis, member of the Executive Committee of Slow Food Italy – products without selected ferments or with self-produced ferments, which enhance the biodiversity that makes each wheel unique. We thus want to return each product to its own history and territory, whether they are cheeses, but also cured meats and breads to which we dedicate a slice of the market and many moments of in-depth analysis».
Often on cheese labels, which list milk, rennet and salt as ingredients, the nutritional characteristics are not given due emphasis. «Cheese is one of those foods that help us understand how nature does a lot on its own – explains Andrea Pezzana, of the ASL City of Turin Clinical Nutrition Complex Structure – but it seems that we have forgotten about it and we often get in the way by adding useless or even harmful elements». So let's start from a seemingly trivial but fundamental concept: what is good for animals is also good for the health of those who eat the food they derive from. That's why it's so important to know how cows, sheep and goats were reared, in the case of cheeses. "Really good and sustainable food starts right from the attention to healthy nutrition for animals, which also has positive effects on human health" declares Pezzana. «In the case of cheeses, a food for which scheduled and not daily consumption is advisable, then the quality really makes the difference to fully enjoy the nutritional and organoleptic advantages. Understanding what lies behind each of these cheeses allows us to appreciate their sensory and dietetic-nutritional characteristics, but also the production process which is certainly more favorable to the protection of the territories and of which the consumer must be informed".
In fact, it is evident that the composition of the milk is influenced by what the animal ate and how it lived: therefore, if the animals are fed mainly on grass, hay or, in the absence of the first two, whole germinable grains, we will find, in cheeses, a better balance between omega 3 and omega 6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. So natural in this case means having one eye on the past and one on the future to be able to enjoy healthy foods for healthy communities and healthy environments.
The presentation was greeted by Alberto Cirio, the new president of the Piedmont Region, who recalled how he has always experienced Cheese with great affection as an Albese, an event that has earned this worldwide fame and allowed the whole of Piedmont to grow and make itself known. In the 2019 edition, the Piedmont Region is the protagonist with the Terre Alte space, mountains and hills that indicate a possible path for a lively and sustainable agriculture, capable of producing income and hope, for a new tourism capable of respect and eager for authentic knowledge . Through the stories of those young people who decide to return, the high-altitude pastures rich in biodiversity are told, some of the oldest dairy traditions in Europe, the heroic vineyards on terraced landscapes of incomparable beauty, the ancient crafts that are reborn in forms new: in short, the rebirth of truly unique places of inestimable value.
Cheese will turn Bra into one for four days symbolic capital of the dairy sector local and global, combining in a peculiar way playful, gastronomic, pleasure and festive aspects with cultural, social, political and economic themes of urgent relevance on an international scale.
Among the great novelties of this edition, the new area dedicated to fermer producers: small, sometimes very small farms that transform only the milk of their animals, mainly practice grazing and produce cheeses without selected ferments or with self-produced ferments. Also unpublished are the two training appointments on production techniques for natural cheeses and self-produced enzymes aimed at the exhibitors of the event, both Italian and international, scheduled in the preview on Thursday 19 September. Cheese 2019 broadens the window on excellent cured meat productions without nitrites and nitrates and naturally leavened breads, giving them a small slice of the market. We find natural cheeses for tasting in the Gran Sala dei Formaggi, while the Enoteca, among the 600 labels proposed by Fisar sommeliers, also includes a selection of the best Triple A, which brings together organic and biodynamic producers from all over the world. Three Conferences in the program are centered on cheeses, cured meats and natural breads and their industrial counterpart.
While Slow Food is assigned the main educational role, always starting from the pleasure of knowing through food, with the itinerary for L'erba che voglio, dedicated to visiting families and school students. But the news does not end here. The Fucina Pizza Pane e Pasticceria makes its debut at Cheese, a gastronomic educational space on the connections between leavening and dairy products, created in collaboration with Agugiaro&Figna Molini, with 12 appointments mainly for women in one field, that of white art, historically for men. We then move on to the large Italian and international market with over 300 exhibitors and the Via degli affinatori who increasingly recognize Cheese as the event in which not only to meet and network, but also to do business. Moreover, in the last edition, the idea of creating a Master dedicated to raw milk cheeses at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo was born from the dialogue with this international network of refiners, which will be officially presented at Cheese.
