Soft, hard, marbled, flavoured with pear or figs, aged in Barolo wine vinasses or cognac…hundreds of types of cheese from all over the world are waiting for all cheese lovers, who will crowd the streets of the little village of Bra.
Bra: such a short name that hides many gastronomic surprises: the famous sausage of Bra, Bra cheese, Bra bread and 9 editions of “Cheese”, the worldwide biennial event dedicated to cheese! If you are a cheese lover, you cannot miss it! I went with my husband to both 2009 and 2011 editions.
The event takes place along the streets of Bra: there is the Cheese Showroom and Wine shop (“Gran Sala dei Formaggi ed Enoteca”), the Exhibition of Slow Food presidia and the Italian and International cheese markets. In each one of these areas you can lose your mind and your figure!
With our entrance ticket we got into the Cheese Showroom, we chose a good glass of Gewürztraminer (the choice in the wine shop is unbelievably wide!) and we decided that one tasting of cheese couldn’t be enough: so we bought other 16 cheese tastings! Wonderful artisan grissini made in Torino were waiting for us on the tables, with the delicious bread made in Bra.
We tasted different types of cheese, from both Italy and the world. The guests of 2011 Edition were the French cheeses…so we couldn’t resist! We tasted the Brie de Melun, made in Île-de-France region; the incredibly soft Fromage du Maquis, a fantastic sheep milk cheese from Corsica; last but not least, the marbled ones: the famous Roquefort (this one was from Midi-Pyrénées) and, with our great surprise, the Persillé du Maizieu, unusual for its almost black molds.
What else to be added…the whole experience is really worth the trip! I suggest you take a walk through the Slow Food presidia Exibition and close the day in the huge market, where you can buy cheese and also jam, mustard and honey to be paired with the cheese: going home empty-handed is impossible!
After such a “cheesy” afternoon, we took our time and went for a walk along the narrow streets of Bra…just the time to get hungry again for dinner! During our wanderings, we tasted: a delicious “Mac ‘d Bra”, brilliant invention of this amazing town, made with Bra bread, Bra sausage and Bra cheese; the amazing raw Fassona meat tartare; the delicious “inBRAnati”, pizza dough sticks, deep-fried and served with Buffalo milk mozzarella (yummy!)
Do you still have the courage to say you won’t visit CHEESE? Be quick and make your reservations, the 2013 edition is this weekend, 20-23 September!
Happy cheesy adventure!
Tag:Bra, brie, cheese!, french cheese, slow food
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