Love Cheese? Yes we do. #Out and About

Victoria Hayes
25th October 2021

The Taste Cheshire wanderers have returned. Yes, we are back in Cheshire after an amazing three days at the Love Cheese Live Event at Staffordshire County Show ground.

We have so much to tell you, it’s difficult to know where to start.

So from the beginning…Why were we there?

The International Cheese and Dairy Awards have historically been held in Nantwich, in our wonderful county of Cheshire. However, the vagaries of the British weather added to the Covid of it all, prompted the organisers to seek out a new venue with an all weather, all eventuality element. The showground in Stafford was just such a place and inspired them to add a consumer facing show to what has traditionally been a trade only event. The organisers in their wisdom, knew that the Cheshire Element would be missed from the show so invited us to come down, along with some of our farmer’s market superstars to create a Taste of Cheshire element to the show.

We were so proud to bring along, Weston Biltong, SA Sauces, UFO, Perfect Tipple, Dipple Tipple and Co, Gourmegg. Little Bear’s Fudgery, Kingdom Recommends, Planet Doughnut, Joles Gourmet and Sunrise Patisserie. All these fabulous local producers were a credit to our county and we are so grateful to them for joining us.

 

Love Cheese Live featured a massive array of stunning dairy based producers, as you can imagine the amount of cheese we have eaten is quite unbelievable.

If you’ve never seen the International Cheese and Dairy Awards, it is quite a sight to see. Table after table of stunning Cheeses or all varieties, which are all tasted and judged by industry experts.  

Our Thanks to Chef Emma Shawcross for coming along and judging on behalf of Taste Cheshire. Emma’s incredible enthusiasm is always appreciated and she is like a child at Christmas on Cheese judging day.

It would be impossible to mention all the amazing Cheeses. But Special mention must be made of the Gold-winning Cheese Celebration Cake. Created by Daniel Williams from Cheshire Grocer  Godfrey C. Williams & Son, Specialists in British & Artisan Cheeses, Coffee & Tea, Bespoke Hampers. Market Square, Sandbach, Cheshire, CW11 1AP.

This was the Third year in a row that Daniel scooped this award. What an achievement. He also scooped Gold with their Grazing Platter and Won a Silver for the Cheese Board. Incredible.

For the full list of the winners in each category as well as the Supreme Champions, click here:-

Love Cheese Live (internationalcheeseawards.co.uk)

 

So on to the Consumer side  of things. Well, let’s begin with the headliners, what a line up… James Martin, Marco Pierre White, Michel Roux Jr, Matt Tebbutt, Chris Baber, Will Holland, Liz Marley and Mario Olianis amongst others performing throughout the day in one of the several Love Cheese Live Cookery Theatres.

All the chefs were wonderful on stage but also kind and generous with their time with all the exhibitors and members of the public. There were plenty of photo requests, but they took the time to chat to both trade and public, reassuring us that you can meet your heroes and not be disappointed.

Special mention here for our friend Karen from Kingdom Recommends for ensuring that as many chefs as possible would be enjoying a gin after the show.

For a first time show, it was very special to bring together such a large number of fabulous food fanatics.

Other show highlights included meeting the fabulous team from Orsom Cheese and the delightful Laura from Graze Cheshire. Laura treated us to a live demonstration of how to put together a beautiful grazing cheese board. Luckily we were in the perfect place to nab some cheese so that we can try and implement our new found skills at home. 

If you haven’t get her book yet, Inspired Grazing, there are just a few left on Amazon, to order one now, click here:- https://amzn.to/3nI4pZx

It was brilliant to see the talented @grazecheshire, sharing her wisdom and creating “The most ORSOM Cheeseboard” live. It was almost too pretty to eat…

 

We were so lucky to try so many different types of cheese, butter and even beautiful Ice cream. We loved making plans and talking food sustainability with Reaseheath College’s incredible Staff.

We were inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit and passion of new vendors like Particular & Co, based in Knutsford. Amy’s stunning butter soft smoked salmon was the talk of the show and rumour has it, Matt Tebbutt, Marco Pierre White and Michel Roux Jr were amongst those who ensured she sold out. We will be talking a lot more about Particular & Co in the coming weeks and months, so look out for that on here and on our social media.

 

All in all, Love Cheese Live was a brilliant three days of networking, food and fun. We’ve made new friends, reconnected with old and once again spread the word of how fabulous our local food and drink is on a national stage. We look forward to doing it all again.

 

Don’t miss out, plans are already in place for next year’s event.

International Cheese & Dairy Awards 2022

Staffordshire County Showground

Trade and Judging | Thursday 30 June 2022
Love Cheese Live Consumer Show | Friday 1 July – Thursday 2 July 2022

If you are interested in trading in the Taste Cheshire element of the event next year. Please do get in touch with [email protected] with Love Cheese Live 2022 as the subject of your email.