Cheese? Yes Please!

Seattle Hosts Celebration of Washington Cheesemakers Saturday

Will you be in the Seattle area this weekend?

(Or do you need an excuse to be there?)

The first – and we hope annual! – Washington Artisan Cheesemakers Festival is being held at the Seattle Design Center on Saturday afternoon. Featuring 20 Washington cheesemakers, the event gives enthusiasts the opportunity to meet the artisans and learn more about what makes their cheeses unique.

And – *ahem* – taste one or two along the way.

Foodtree is delighted to help the festival by providing technical support – including providing QR Codes for the tasting booths to help the new fans find where to buy their favourites!

Here’s just a small sample of what’s on offer:

Mt Townsend Creamery

Mt Townsend Creamery, one of the larger Washington producers, has just recently opened up a tasting space in Pike Market. They are perhaps best known for the soft-ripened Seastack, which uses vegetable ash ahead of ripening.  It’s a popular offering and graces the cheese plates of many a fine restaurant around Washington and beyond.

Mt Townsend's Seastack is dusted in vegetable ash prior to ripening.

Golden Glen Creamery

Golden Glen Creamery, out of Bow, WA, sources milk from their own herd of Holstein, Guernsey and Jersey cows to make their range of artisan cheese. In addition to their farm store, you can find the cheese at Alder Wood Bistro, Madison Park Conservatory and many small grocers and food coops around Washington.

River Cheddar double cream cheddar from Golden Glen Creamery

Kurtwood Farms

Dinah’s Cheese from Kurtwood Farms has received consistent accolades over its lifetime. Kurt Timmermeister, a chef turned cheese maker, has recently released the book “Growing a Farmer” about his transition to living off the land that contributes to Dinah’s Cheese. His food philosophy? Eat “the very best foods in the very best ways.”

River Valley Cheese

River Valley cow and goat milk cheeses can be found across in specialty grocers, PCC and Whole Foods in Washington. One of their most popular is the Naughty Nellie raw milk tomme – a cheese that has been bathed in local Pike Brewery’s ale of the same name. Not only is their raw milk artisan cheeses winning several awards, they also offer cheesemaking classes to try your hand at it at home.

Raw milk artisan cheese from River Valley

And what is a cheese tasting without something to help wash it down? Local breweries, wineries and cideries will be on hand to advise in pairings, and artisans are providing bread, crackers, jams and sweets to accompany the cheeses.

If you’re heading to the Washington Artisan Cheese Festival – Why not grab our free iPhone app and snap a picture to keep track of your favourites? And look out for me – I’ll be there the afternoon, snapping pictures and learning a thing or two myself!

Event Details:

Washington Artisan Cheese Festival

Saturday 7th April 2012, 12pm-6pm.

Seattle Design Center

5701 6th Avenue South

Seattle, WA 98108

21+ only. Buy advance tickets here ($35) – limited tickets will be available at the door $40. Price of admission includes cheese tastings and 3 drinks for beer, cider or wine. 

If you missed TEDxManhattan “Changing The Way We Eat”, here’s a visual summary. #tedxman

We spent part of this past Saturday watching the TEDxManhattan event from afar, thanks to the real-time feed that attendees provided to us on Twitter. Below is a collection of those tweets, using a story aggregation tool from our friends at Storify:

Film Screening: A FRESH Event

The team here is just back from a week in San Francisco, and would love to invite you out for a local Vancouver event on Thursday night!  Come out to see FRESH, a film by Ana Joanes which is making waves and seeding a movement in thinking about food.

FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

There’s more!  The screening is Thursday November 4th at 7pm, at the Ridge Theater (map) and you can buy tickets here…the following is including in the event:

1. You will be watching our feature  film, FRESH,  www.freshthemovie.com and it’s an excellent watch!
2. You’ll  be supporting the work of 2 great organizations that make local food happen: www.farmfolkcityfolk.ca and www.theworldinagarden.com.
3. Enjoy complimentary Artisan Gifts Bags valued at over $50 with  Home Grow-in Grocer and Terra Breads gift certificates, antipasto by Tower Foods, Cocolico Chocolate Sauce by Wendy Boys, JB’s Candy Store home-made caramel popcorn, a Green Zebra coupon book and a Nature’s Path Granola bar!
4. Taste the goodness of fresh and local preparations from our generous sponsors: Windset Farms, Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co., Vij’s, Terra Breads and Edible British Columbia.
5. Experience the flavours of our Farm to Table liquids including: Farmstead wines, Crannog Ales, Dao Tea and Ethical Bean Coffee.
6. There are Door Prizes to be won!
7. Raffle items include gift baskets from: Seeds of Plenty, Ethical Bean, FarmFolkCityFolk, Edible British Columbia and Choices Market.
8. The first 200 people  to purchase tickets online will be entered to win 2 tickets to the 2011 Feast of Fields www.feastoffields.com ($190 value) and we’re almost there so get online today to order!
9. All this for only  $27! Because it’s so much more than a Film Screening, it’s “A Fresh Event”

We’ll see you there!