Having failed to get to Slow Cheese in Bra I decided I mustn't miss the Great British Cheese Festival this year so took the train to Cardiff for the day. What can I say? Basically that I was hugely disappointed though I know that's not a very PC thing to admit.Most of the problems were organisational. A huge queue (right) to get into the one free cheese tent (which I fortunately missed having arrived early) which made it absurdly overcrowded. Tickets sold out for most of the events I wanted to get to (OK, my fault for not booking ahead but there should be something for people who turn up on impulse.) I managed to sneak into the 'Hall of Champions' which contained the prizewinning cheeses by brandishing my press card but that's not an option open to most of the punters there.
The two other tents - the 'Best of British' market and True Taste of Wales - had nothing to do with cheese and were sadly depleted. There were a few local beer, cider and wine stands but not much in the way of food producers. The food stalls (Pieminister apart) offered the usual dreary festival fare of burgers and fried onions (particularly perverse at a cheese festival) The splendid Trethowan's Dairy which had been at Abergavenny the previous week and is one of the only companies in Britain to offer cheese-centred fast food were notable by their absence - or at least I didn't spot them.
To lay this at the door of the festival's founder Juliet Harbutt would be harsh. A native New Zealander she has done more than anyone else to put British artisanal cheeses on the map and her own 'Rising Stars' workshop at which she showed the 10 cheeses at the festival that excited her most (and on which I'll report later this week) was the highlight of my day. But there were too many dull cheeses including, inexplicably, some award-winners. Where were the shining beacons of the cheese retail world like Neal's Yard, La Fromagerie and The Fine Cheese Company in Bath or the exciting, newly-founded Pong Cheese? Not at Cardiff.
I suspect like many things it's down to funding and Harbutt needs more big money sponsorship and support from the industry if this festival is to regain its position as the ultimate showcase for British cheese. Let me make a few suggestions:
* More big names. Yup, sad to say it's celebs that pull in the punters so let's have a cookery theatre with TV chefs and cookery writers cooking up cheese-based recipes. That applies to the other workshops too - more tastings of cheese with beer, wine, cider and other drinks from well-known experts.
* Insist that the takeaway food stands are cheese-based. (Can't be that hard for goodness sake - really good cheese sandwiches, toasties, pasties, baked potatoes with cheesy toppings, macaroni cheese . . . )
* Have a minimum of two free cheese tents one of which has stands where you can try different styles of cheese (the M & S-sponsored Hall of Champions made a fair attempt at this but it was ticketed and only open to around 50 people at a time)
* A cheese cookery school for kids (there were a lot there) with a competition for the best cheese salad or sarnie
* If money is scarce - and it may be - make it every other year - alternating with Slow Food Cheese
* and I hesitate to suggest this, consider changing the venue back to central England to make it more accessible (it used to be held in the Cotswolds) or at the very least change the date so that it doesn't follow the week after Abergavenny. It can't make sense to hold two Welsh food festivals within such a short period.
End of rant. Did you go? Is this assessment fair? What would you like to see from a British cheese festival?
6 comments:
Having attended this for several years in Blenheim Palace, Cheltenham, the Cotswolds and last year in Cardiff we decided not to go this year after last year's was so disappointing.
Agree with (and had already fed back) most if not all of your disappointments and suggestions.
I believe it's tied to Cardiff for a 5 year run, though might be wrong. I know some of the stall holders last year were not wholly positive about the move to Cardiff - great city but not easy for as many customers from around the country let alone for many of the stallholders themselves.
Ooo, just discovered you on the other side of the pond! What a terrific blog -- I've added you to my blog roll, and I look forward to getting your book. A cheese school for children is a genius idea!
I've been to two or three too Kavey and thought this one was much less successful than the Cotswold one. They seem to have contracted in size and have far fewer talks and workshops. And like you I'm not sure Cardiff is the ideal location
And welcome Madame Fromage! Good to hear from you - I've added your blog to my links too.
Stop your Welsh bashing - what's wrong with a cheese festival in Wales, we produce many world famous cheeses - just because you lot are England (or more probably London) centric, and feel that coming to the provinces is a bit country and you don't want to get your Jimmy Choos muddy or "sheepy". It's a great city for a cheese festival. Though I do agree with you on the cheese related snacks - I had a fab raclette at the Abergavenny Food Festival only the week before.
Had to delete a comment I'm afraid - first time I've had to do that - the gist of which was that Juliet Harbutt - and Cardiff - were part of the problem. I'm not qualified to comment on the former and see no reason per se why the festival shouldn't be in Wales other than the fact it's not central which makes it hard to get to for cheeselovers in the North and East of the country. (I'd say the same if they were being held in Suffolk or York) The Cotswolds were a better venue IMHO
I went to my last one at Cheltenham after being denied entry an hour before the supposed close despite having spent much of the day there.
We'd enjoyed our morning and went out for a quick pint, before going back to make all our planned cheese purchases. We were refused entry saying they were closing down early, so we left empty handed. Previous years had seen us loaded down with bags of cheese.
Now I live in Lancashire, Cardiff isn't really an option, but it doesn't look like I'm missing much.
Great days were had in the Cotswolds & Blenheim though!
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