My five minutes of fame
Looking at myself wittering on about cheese on the episode of The Farmers’ Country Showdown on BBC1 last week, I thought, I wish I’d combed my hair before they started filming. And boy, do I get red when put under any public gaze. But it was a very nerve-wracking thing, although the film crew were lovely and seemed to really enjoy the cheeses we were judging.
If you had told me a couple of decades ago that I’d appear on the BBC in a white coat and scooping fresh goat cheese off a cheese iron to eat, while talking about how clean it tastes, I would not have believed you. This is a strange and pleasant way to make a living sometimes, and normally it is not documented at all. But it is amazing how much time and effort goes into a minute or two of film that makes the edit. We kept having to pick up the cheese, and put it down, and then look at each other, and then repeat.
The show featured cheeses from Wyke Farms and White Lake Cheese getting judged at the Global Cheese Awards in Frome, UK. You forget how it looks to an outsider. As someone in my London circle said, now we all want to visit Frome. I encouraged her to do so. For the non-rural folks, this kind of show is a fascinating insight into the agricultural life. It shows the amount of work that goes into producing the cheese that people take for granted.
So, what to think of the episode. I thought the Clothiers and Roger from White Lake came across very well. The families that make our food have to be respected and encouraged, particularly as these people make such delicious things. And, my personal favourite bit was when Roger from White Lake told the camera what he called his affineur: “He’s our sponge monkey.” Hee hee.
