While members of the public were primarily there to see demonstrations, taste samples from the many exhibitors, and learn more about the region’s food, they also watched as the final judging of the awards took place.
The awards, which drew more than 3,000 entries from every continent, are organized by The Guild of Fine Foods, and its managing director, John Farrand, told DairyReporter that the event has to be considered a big success.
“Quite honestly, the World Cheese Awards in San Sebastián exceeded all of our expectations and the city itself provided a spectacular backdrop for our global cheese event,” Farrand said.
“We’ve had some wonderful feedback from our panel of 266 international judges and it gave us all real pleasure to see so many consumers coming through the door to witness the final round of judging.”
Drama at the event
Farrand said that the awards were quite dramatic, in that this year’s World Champion Cheese was the very last of the finalists to be judged, as its producers (Tingvollost from Norway), watched on from the audience.
“Suffice to say, emotional scenes followed.”
Farrand said that staging the World Cheese Awards in a different country always brings new challenges – foreseen and unforeseen – ranging from importing regulations to recruiting a team of helpers and making sure they’re all up to speed on the rigorous judging process.
“It was a mammoth task,” Ferrand admitted.
“But we’re lucky to have an extremely dedicated team with a ‘can do’ attitude, who collectively delivered a truly epic edition of the World Cheese Awards this year.”
Introducing Basque cheeses
Ferrand said that the interaction between the WCA and the cheese festival was a good one, and that it provided an opportunity to take cheese to a wider audience.
“For our part, we were delighted to see so many consumers, from the Basque Country and beyond, enjoying the drama of the world’s largest cheese-only awards scheme.
“Ultimately, the festival delivered on its goal to give the cheesemakers of the Basque Country the international profile they deserve, and we feel very proud to have been part of this.”
Ferrand revealed that The Guild of Fine Foods is currently talking to representatives from Norway, Australia and Japan about future editions of the competition, adding that there is a lot of excitement about extending the global reach of the World Cheese Awards still further.