Cheese 2017: the best cheese and the redemption of raw milk.

Why is it man's duty to safeguard raw milk cheeses? What significance underlies this type of product? Carlo Petrini, founder and President of Slow Food, has taught us over the years that food is a reflection of a constantly changing society. Food is a value and a heritage that does not admit superficiality or distortions.

Nourishing the world means respecting all the interpreters of a supply chain that starts from the land and reaches the table of each of us. The safeguarding of the women and men who preserve the millennial tradition of a territory is desirable by anyone who inhabits this Earth.

The lesson from Cheese 2017 is the protection of ancient malghe, pastures, and herdsmen who have not renounced the ancient cheesemaking practices, avoiding the thermal treatment of milk. Thus, it is not just a stylistic choice of the product but also a well-defined production philosophy. The best shepherds in the world gathered in Bra from September 15 to 18. A festival that attracted enormous interest and a large audience, not just operators and experts, but simple men and women from this world drawn to the white world of cheese. Producers, refiners, selectors, merchants, all aligned on raw milk.

Spaghetti & Mandolino could not miss it, and I personally followed the event, meeting our small great suppliers who represent the Italian productive elite. Our platform is increasingly aligning itself with cheeses that tell a story, with the intention of starting a closer relationship with the “rebels” of cheese, those who have chosen to step outside systems that misunderstand the purest and most historical cheesemaking art. Men against, to recall the title of a great film by Francesco Rosi.

Like Paolo Ciapparelli, leader of the shepherds from Valtellina who have exited the DOP Bitto and today produce the legendary forms of Storico Ribelle which can age up to 10 years. Or like Luciano Catellani, who has left the Consortium of Parmigiano Reggiano DOP and continues the production of Vacche Rosse Razza Reggiana, consolidating his intention to save this breed from extinction and creating a new single-origin market for Parmigiano Reggiano DOP. And many others who, in Bra, shared their dreams and sacrifices.

Our path will be to receive the message of Cheese 2017 and continue the search for the greatest Italian products and the small great shepherds who save the Earth.

Cheese is the world of cheese in all its declinations, and this year it has chosen Raw Milk as its common thread. Very interesting indications have emerged concerning what we can truly call cheesemaking masterpieces.

Within this category, we can include the great affinators of Carpenedo, who, at the Infiniti Blu competition organized by ONAF and Slow Food and conducted by Gorgonzola, were awarded the maximum points. Blu 61 remains the best blue cheese in Italy and has achieved the “Excellence Plate” rating with a score higher than 84/100. The Basajo Superiore received the Merit Award for the wine affinements. Antonio Carpenedo moved the room with his presence at the award ceremony, as he is considered the reference point for affinements in Italy.

Among our suppliers at Cheese, we would like to highlight the great public success of Luigi Guffanti, who has once again demonstrated the great mastery and reliability of the aging techniques used on the Piedmontese tomes.

Another great success for Latteria Perenzin, which won over the audience at Cheese with its raw milk cheeses. A great cheese is the Monte Veronese DOP, Stravecchio di Malga DOP presented by Giovanni Roncolato from La Casara among the Best Slow Food Presidia showcased in the squares of Bra.

Bernardo Pasquali