Over 4000 products from more than 40 countries on 6 continents, competing in the thirty-third edition of the World Cheese Awards, the most important competition in the world dedicated to cheeses which will be held in Oviedo, in Spain, from 3 to 6 November.
The competition, organized by Guild of Fine Food as part of the Asturias Paraìso Natural International Cheese Festival will see the global dairy community gather in the former capital of the Kingdom of Asturias for a competition destined to be the largest and most international ever. On 3 November, the participating cheeses will be tasted blind by 250 international experts divided into teams who will identify, in addition to the country-specific and cheese-specific trophies, the cheeses worthy of the super-gold, gold, silver and bronze, the top 90 cheeses in the world and the world champion 2020/2021.
He will participate for the Italian flag the National Parmigiano Reggiano made up of 96 dairies representing not only the 321 total that are part of the Consortium, but the whole universe of PDO distributed in the provinces of Parma, Reggio, Modena, Bologna to the left of the Reno river and Mantua to the right of the Po. Not only that: among their products there are mountain cheeses and organic ones, those of red cows as well as brown cows, in a mosaic of biodiversity unique in the world.
“After a year's hiatus – says the president of the consortium, Nicola Bertinelli – the national team will return to battle in the most important competition dedicated to cheese in the world. Once again our dairies will team up to demonstrate that Parmigiano Reggiano is not just a cheese but a passion, a territory and over fifty thousand people who get involved every day in pursuit of absolute excellence". “The Parmigiano Reggiano national team proves to be an extraordinary tool for aggregating and promoting the product - adds Gabriele Arlotti, founder of the national team - Through the selection of the best samples and the choice to have them submitted to an international jury, the dairies get involved. The recognition they can get will become a marketing and market tool.
Almost one dairy out of three has decided to take this blue road… in the year of Italy that wins in sports and music” The Parmigiano Reggiano national team is a project to promote cheese in Italy and abroad born 20 years ago during a meeting between dairies. Indeed, it was in 2001 that a small group of producers from the Apennines joined forces to participate as a group in a national competition, Author's Cheeses, in Valle d'Aosta. Just two decades later, the national team already boasts a list of respectable international awards: from Russia to Norway, from England to Spain, there are over 350 prizes obtained in the most prestigious cheese competitions.
The latest success dates back to a few days ago, when the Gennari Dairy with his Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse 36 months he won the “Il Casaro d'Oro” category of the Amazement and Emotion Competition, promoted by ONAF and Forme. For its activity, the national team was awarded the First Tricolor in 2015 in the Sala Tricolore of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, where our national flag was born.
