The Datebook datebook_autumn2019_digital_ARTWORK | Page 19

By Francis Gimblett
Campaign for British
Cheese at Events
don’t treasure our cheeses. It
was with this in mind that I
decided to write a guide to
British cheese, and to answer
some questions I had been
asking myself since the lure of
fermented curd had first held
me in its grip.
Francis in his “Sleeping Quarters”
and, lower right, visiting with a
cheese producer.
I
awoke with a start, the
canvas wall bowing
towards me, a sail rocking
the Land Rover beneath my
roof tent. Sideways sleet
drummed out all other
sound. The tail of the tent
board bucked and threw the
ladder free. I huddled within
my two sleeping bags,
wondering whether to
squander the meagre heat I
had managed to capture, and
to break camp. Once more I
wondered whether my quest
was folly, the misguided
adventure of a middle-aged
man.
In my twenty-two years hosting
tasting events, I have witnessed
and supported the rise of
England’s sparkling wines,
micro-brewery real ales, and the
recent boom in small-batch
distilling. Since starting Taste of
the Vine, we have always made
a point of serving British
cheeses at our tasting events,
but I see little evidence of them
on event venue cheeseboards,
and when I do it is often mass-
produced. This is the equivalent
of serving bag-in-box
supermarket wine at an
important exhibition, conference
or networking event.
Our love of cheese led Pam, my
wife, and me to start a
cheesemaking dairy in
Haslemere, Surrey, to provide
produce for our events and
narrative to our cheese-based
tasting formats. When I now see
British cheese underrated,
underwhelmingly served and
even, in some cases, passed off
as a higher quality producer, it
causes me to wonder why we
When we began making
cheese, we learned that milk
dairies are declining at a fast
rate. According to the
Agriculture and Horticulture
Development Board, between
1997-2017 the number of
dairies had dropped from
27,500 to 9,500. Milk
volumes are higher, but from
bigger herds, where the cows
are milked harder and live
shorter lives. This type of milk
makes for bland cheese. At the
current rate, another 4,000 or
more dairy herds are likely to
go in the next ten years. This is
made worse as it will be those
yielding uncommercial volumes
for the milk industry, often from
smaller breeds and where
animal welfare is a priority –
the very ones we ought to
cherish.
One of my questions was:
could some of these farms be
paired with cheesemakers who
will pay a premium for their
higher-quality milk, allowing a
conscientious farmer to remain
in business. In Britain we have
little over 300 cheesemakers;
in France there are upwards of
4,500. We consume large
amounts of artisan cheese but
mostly they are imports. We’ve
got the appetite, just not the
local choice.
choose a more lucrative career.
Most cited the reason for their
struggle was a lack of
communication with the UK
buyer.
So, since the events arena is a
fertile environment for new
trends, I am striving to
generate more interest for our
wonderful home-crafted artisan
creations by launching the
Campaign for British Cheese at
Events. I will be posting
excerpts from Gimblett’s Guide
to British Cheese on my blog
and via LinkedIn, offering free
consultancy to event
organisers, event caterers and
event venues to assist them
with their cheese choices.
Furthermore, in an effort to
encourage excellence in the
selection and service of British
cheeses, I will promote the
cause with a ‘Champion of
British Cheese’ award.
This will be given to venues I
encounter via our events at
Taste of the Vine, or those
recommended to me, who
display a commitment to
stocking and British cheeses
and serving them in a manner
that follows best practice,
including naming cheese
producers on a cheeseboard or
having a member of service
Francis presenting the very first
''Champion of British Cheese''
Award to Alex Read, Head Chef at
Vintners' Hall.
staff briefed on cheeses being
served. It will also be awarded
to those venues who at the
time of the visit undertake to
change to follow best practice.
Details available on
https://www.tasteofthevine.co.u
k/campaign. Please connect,
follow and insist on named
British producers on your event
cheeseboards. If not only for
the good of our cows, our dairy
heritage and our economy, then
maybe also to help one man
believe that having to be
rescued by the army after being
flood-bound in the Brecon
Beacons was not as foolish as
it felt.
The guide I felt would be poor
without first-hand knowledge of
the producers and their
opinions, so I set about visiting
100 artisan cheesemakers in
100 days in the first quarter of
2019. The expense of
accommodation steered me
towards the idea of wild
camping on the roof of my car.
I researched and visited what I
considered the cream of our
cheesemakers, those you
would expect to be flourishing,
but for almost all it was passion
before profit, a commitment
without which many would
Visit The London & UK DatebooK on www.thedatebook.co.uk
Blog: https://www.tasteofthevine.co.uk/blog
LinkedIn: Francis Gimblett. Instagram & twitter: @francisgimblett
Francis runs wine tasting, beer, gin, whisky cheese,
cheesemaking and cocktail events at Taste of the Vine.
www.tasteofthevine.co.uk
THE LONDON & UK DATEBOOK
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