Cheese in Bra

This is for those who had the occasion to go to Bra this year for the Cheese festival - and for those who did not, here is a small taste ...

Lebanon showcased in last year's Cheese two important local cheeses: the darfieh (the first Lebanese presidia) and the famous vegan cheese called kishk el khameer (the second presidia) ...

© Cheese photo (upper left) Barbara Abdeni Massaad

This text is taken from the official Cheese 2009 site:
for more details: http://cheese.slowfood.it/welcome_eng.lasso

Why Cheese?

What is Cheese 2009? In short, it is a story – told through words, voices, images and aromas – set primarily in the mountains.

The work of herders who pasture their flocks in mountain meadows and make cheese in Alpine dairies, with great respect for the principles of environmental sustainability, is an important social, economic, rural and cultural resource for their local areas.

The event in Bra will recognize these values, highlighting the fundamental role cheesemakers play in safeguarding mountain ecosystems and the environment in general. Since its first edition, Cheese has aimed to offer visitors an opportunity to learn (and isn’t it perhaps true that we learn more having fun!), and to be an event rich in information, which is passed on directly by those whose lives revolve around the world of dairy.

At Cheese, people are enticed from many regions and countries, filling the streets to browse and taste among the stalls of the busy market. A place blends into another place and a time into another time, thus revealing connections and bonds.

Through meeting producers and sampling their cheeses, attending Milk Workshops and other educational activities as well as enjoying the concerts and Street Food stands, during the days of Cheese visitors will be able to gain awareness about the importance of agricultural and rural activities in relation to environmental protection.

In this way, we seek to reverse the trend of depopulation in mountain areas and the resulting abandonment of traditional pastoral practices, endangering centuries-old equilibriums and causing the disappearance of products, customs and traditions.

It is these products, customs and traditions that Cheese wants to help promote and protect.