Will lurk for cheese

It is a sad thing but I am a sucker for a piece of cheese. Yesterday, having sampled several fine examples of the cheese maker’s art, including an apple wood-smoked cheddar, I hung around somewhat expectantly towards the end of the All Party Paliamentary Group on Cheese reception. Then my native New Yorker-ness overcame me and I just asked if I could take a chunk. The folk at Dairy UK very graciously agreed and supplied clingfilm for me to wrap my prize Stilton wedge and take it home.

Now, I doubt there are many other foodstuffs where I would be willing to make a fool of myself like that. And yet, I think sometimes that lawmakers miss the magic that is cheese – taking ordinary milk and turning it into more than 700 types of delicious cheese here in the UK. Yes, members and staff will come to the APPG reception and swarm around the cheese boards, but then we hear of alarming trends, such as the labelling issue, where they lump cheese in with other products that are high in fat and salt by use of the traffic light system. This ignores the nutrient density that you get in one 30 gram piece of cheese, which ranges from calcium to B vitamins. You won’t see the same benefit per calorie in a candy bar.

But this is an eternal struggle and one sadly that cheese makers have to continue to fight. In  the meantime, the news that there is a newly formed UK cheese exporters group was welcomed by the assembled. If you are a cheese maker, watch out for your invitation to join in spreading the word worldwide about wonderful British cheese.