He drops down unto his knees and studies the fresh cow manure on the field. It has the right smell, fIies have already found it, and that’s a good sign. It is one of indicators of how the cow is doing. Jan Dirk van de Voort is a farmer and cheesemaker of Remeker cheese and he sees the world in quite a different light than most of his colleagues.
Charles de Gaulle once said something about how impossible it was to run a country with more than 300 cheeses (it has been quoted so many times and with many different figures). I don’t know why, but this quote popped up when I was thinking about the Netherlands. Maybe because I’m still amazed byt the fact that vast areas of the country lies below sea level, and windmills from the 16th century still pump out the water and keep the country dry.
Top 1 from a Dutch cheese journey
The boat trip from the mainland to the island is fast. Just a few minutes. You can easily see across the water. And yet it feels like another world coming to the island.
Every country has an iconic food – one that is considered an important part of its gastronomical and cultural identity – and often, one that it is proud of. For Norwegians, it’s “brown cheese.” For a Dane like Camilla of CheeseTalks, it took a bit of time and work to understand this particular cheese made of whey.
When Camilla, of CheeseTalks and Cheese Journeys co-host, spends the family vacation away from home, her husband and kids know by now that there is always a cheese story to explore – just around the corner. Following is one of her recent cheese adventures.
My New Life as Cheese Communicator
Around the world, we are witnessing big changes these days. The COVID-19 is the reason that we, here in Denmark, have closed kindergartens, schools – and most people work from home. I have been looking so much forward to joining Cheese Journeys on a British Cheese Odyssey to the UK at the end of March. Of course, we cannot go there right now, so the trip has been postponed to November.
Foreign Travel is Risky Business at Times, But So Worth It!
Last August, at the start of another Cheese Journey, I found myself racing to the airport in an NYC cab and feeling a twinge of anxiety about a few of the upcoming unknowns. Trying to reassure myself, I quickly closed my eyes and began thinking about one of my first European adventures. The words of a Canadian traveler began ringing in my ears – acting as a calming reminder.
