Every two years Slow Food invites the world of cheese to congregate in the village of Bra for it's biennial Cheese festival. This year the weather was perfect, the cheese and wine all delicious albeit a bit overwhelming.

To get there I took Neive to Bra train so I could avoid the inevitable parking nightmare. On the ride home I was rewarded listening to the banter and conversation throughout the packed train car with locals from every small village along the way comparing their purchases and making plans for their unusual and exotic cheese discoveries.

The Piemonte is one of the most cheese-centric places in the world. The idea of what is local takes on a whole new meaning when virtually every single hill and valley that wrap around this region has its own unique expression of cow, goat and sheep milk.

I had the pleasure of walking through the village with my friend Joseph Guth, owner of the specialty food importer Provvista based in Portland, OR. Joe was in town looking for small artisan cheese producers the Italians call caseificio or formaggeria. I learned a thing to two about the cheese business that I never knew before. I have to say that I never knew that there was a very important middle man in cheese called an Affineur or Affinatori in Italian.

This is a person or a company whose job it is to "refine" the cheese. Since most artisan cheese evolves and changes based on time and conditions. It is the job of an Affineur will store and care for the cheese until it is at the right moment for serving. Many Affineurs have actual caves that are naturally cool and humid which are the perfect environment for ripening cheese (as well as storing wine, but that is a different story).

The bond between the calseificio and the affineur and in turn the importer and retailer (or restauranteur) is paramount to ensuring the highest quality product for the client.

...slow food, cheese, affineur, affinatore, calcificio