For mice and men
For mice and men Why we’re quite partial to a bit of English cheese
Words: Jeremy Taylor
British cheese is enjoying a renaissance so ditch the cellophaned slices and head to a farmer’s market. It’s so good the cows want it back
WHETHER YOU’RE LOOKING at a chunk of Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire on the plate or a slab of Stinking Bishop, there can be no denying that the British cheese industry is enjoying the whiff of a remarkable renaissance. And it’s all the more enjoyable for being so long overdue. After the dark days of the 1970s, when factory-produced Cheddar and sweaty Stilton seemed the best that we could muster, British dairies have come back from the brink.
The proof? Last year, the annual British Cheese Awards attracted more than 800 entries from every corner of the British Isles. Some were well-established companies but many were family businesses, trying their luck for the fi rst time. What’s more, UK wholesalers now export across Europe and America, while leading London restaurants such as The Ivy, Green’s and The Ledbury fl aunt extensive British cheese lists to cater for the connoisseur. No longer does a diner raise an eyebrow in surprise when offered a British cheese.
Interest in home-produced cheese gradually began to take off about 30 years ago. A young man named Randolph Hodgson had just started making yoghurts for Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden. The store was looking to expand, so Hodgson was dispatched to track down some interesting cheeses from around the country.
"The industry was in a pretty sorry state," Hodgson remembers. "There were very few dairies and if you went into a store they usually sold a wide selection of French and Italian cheeses and only Cheddar and a Stilton from the UK. The heart had been ripped out of the British industry in the 1950s and 1960s and it was on the verge of extinction."
Nonetheless, Hodgson didn’t automatically pick up the French and Italian samples but kept an eye out for British ones; he would return from his visits with more and more varieties of cheese. Gradually, a small network of suppliers was established and Neal’s Yard had no problem selling the produce on to customers in London. "It was a fascinating time and very exciting too as the industry grew," he says.
The traditional cheese-making process had begun to die out after World War II, when industrialisation made large-scale production a tastier proposition than small-scale cottage industries. It wasn’t until the consumer boom in the 1980s, when customers began to demand a wider choice, and cheesemakers rediscovered a passion for their product, that things began to change.
"It just took off. People wanted fl avour again and locally produced goods and they didn’t mind paying a little extra for it," explains Hodgson. The fi rst successful UK cheeses were branded `farmhouse’ a label that is now frowned upon.
"Farmhouse means nothing," points out Jeremy Bowen, a buyer for the upmarket food chain Paxton & Whitfi eld. "There are huge shipments of Cheddar made in China, which are just mass- produced in a factory. But the new breed of producers in Britain are really cheese artisans. Cheese is now a sexy food again, people are discussing it and looking for new fl avours to try."
Certainly the top cheese at last year’s British Cheese Awards was fi rst whipped up in a kitchen and is now made in a converted barn. Tunworth, a soft white cheese, is produced by Julie Cheyney and Stacey Hedges in Herriard, Hampshire.
We are both mums with three young children and wanted to do something interesting for ourselves," says Cheyney. "My husband runs a farm here and this was also a means of diversifying the business."
Cheese Dip
Events
- The Great British Cheese Festival takes place 29 to 30 September at Millets Farm Centre, on the A415 near Abingdon, Oxfordshire (www.thecheeseweb.com)
- Sturminster Newton Cheese Festival attracts the best local produce and takes place 8 to 9 September in Sturminster, Dorset (www.cheesefestival.co.uk)
- The annual British Cheese Week runs from 1 to 7 October, with a range of tasty events
- The winners of the prestigious British Cheese Awards will be announced on 28 September
Outlets
- Sir Winston Churchill favoured upmarket food supplier Paxton & Whitfi eld for his nibbles. The company has an extensive British cheese list at stores in Bath, Birmingham, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Jermyn Street, London (www.paxtonandwhitfi eld.co.uk)
- Neal’s Yard Dairy has helped re-establish the UK cheese industry There are shops in Borough Market and Covent Garden, or visit www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk
- The Cheese Board Shop, Royal Hill, Greenwich, London (020 8305 0401; www.cheese-board.co.uk). Orders taken online
- The Fine Cheese Company, Walcot Street, Bath (01225 483407; www. fi necheese.co.uk). Orders taken online
- Borough Market in Southwark is London’s oldest food market and has several cheese sellers (www. boroughmarket.org.uk). Open Thursday to Saturday
- If you’re a Wallace & Gromit fan, you’ll like "a nice piece of Wensleydale" from Wensleydale Creamery , Hawes, Yorkshire (01969 667664; www.wensleydale.co.uk)
- Pop into Popinella’s, Lower High Street, Tutbury, Staffordshire (01283 902330; www.popinella.co.uk) · One of Scotland’s fi nest outlets for British cheese is Valvona & Crolla in Elm Row, Edinburgh (0131 556 6066; www.valvonacrolla.co.uk)
- Order a Monthly Selection Box online from The Cheese Society (01522 511003; www. thecheesesociety.co.uk)
