Cheese every which way

Calling all cheese lovers!
If you have a special place in your heart for all things creamy, sharp, pungent, smelly, gooey, crumbly, unusual and downright intriguingly tasty; then the Slow Food Festival of Cheese, held in Bra, Italy every other year, is for you!
We enjoyed the extravaganza of cheesey offerings this festa had to offer. If you could wade through the mob to get to the samples, there was plenty to keep you wondering just how there be so many variations on such a simple list of ingredients, milk, cow, sheep or goat, a curdling ingredient or two, some flavoring from the vast array that nature has to offer and only seems to be limited by one's imagination or sheer necessity. The depth and breadth of the types of cheeses makes me proud to live in a country and region in particular that takes it's food so seriously. It is certainly a celebration of diversity.
It was a great day out and we made a sweep down to the Barolo wine region to see a bit more around, and add a few richly flavored Piemonte wines to compliment all of the wonderful cheeses after our outing. Nothing like the Barbera, Nebbiolo and Barbarescos wines to help balance and digest all those rich cheeses. Piedmont has so much to offer.

One other highlight of the day was getting to meet Rowena of the always interesting blog,
Rubber Slippers in Italy, her charming husband and the adorable and very photogenic Maddie. Rowena even was wearing the famous Hawaiian style slippers of the blog. It was all too brief trying to meet and play tour guide to my family in a very crowded festival. Perhaps we'll meet up again sometime when we're on our own.

So mark your calender for 2009 for a not to be missed edition of "Bra Cheese Festival'!