Every year, specialty grocer and Pike Place Market mainstay DeLaurenti organizes the Seattle Cheese Festival. Cheese makers from all over the world are invited to line the street and give away their painstakingly crafted artisanal cheeses for free to the unappreciative masses. Considering how busy Pike Place usually is on the weekends, you’re probably imagining something along the lines of a culinary shitshow. And, you’re kinda right.
Hungover from the previous night’s press reception, we dove into the clusterfuck of tourists, foodies, and vendors to attempt some cheese tasting. Festival attendees were aggressive, and we found ourselves being shoved aside by old ladies cutting to the front of every line (when there was a line, which tended to not be the case). The front of the booths were more often packed with mobs of people stabbing viciously at pieces of cheese with their toothpicks. I don’t know what it is about free samples that make people so nutso, but we bore the brunt of the free food fever for the entire afternoon.
- Katy McCourt-Basham
We managed to make the rounds to most of the venders, sampling domestic and European cheeses. Though most of the things we tried were pretty good, there were a few cheesemakers that definitely stood out from the bunch. Sartori, a Wisconsin-based company, makes a gem of a cheese called Rasberry Bellavitano, which is a cow’s milk cheese soaked in raspberry ale. Really, it’s fucking incredible. Rivalry aside, California-based Cypress Grove Creamery was our favorite overall vendor, selling a solid variety of goat cheeses with psychedelic names like “Purple Haze” (made with lavender and fennel) and “Truffle Tremor” (made with black truffles).
Ultimately, navigating hordes of befuddled tourists and weekend connoisseurs was frustrating. But you get what you pay for. Whether or not you’re willing to withstand the carnival-style meandering and tedium for slivers of some of the world’s finest cheeses is up to you. But if you were looking for an excuse to get outside on what’s been arguably the nicest day of the year so far, you probably weren’t disappointed.
Eds. note: the Seattle Cheese Festival continues today, going until 4 p.m., in the rain (arguably not the ideal setting for cheese sampling, but bound to be less crowded).
We went early and had made the rounds by the time the wine garden opened. I was expecting it to be tremendously horrible with the comments on Slog, but it really wasn’t too bad. You really just have to go early, and be slightly aggressive because people will grab a piece and then stand there for five minutes chewing the smallest piece of cheese ever. Most people who bumped into me, or I accidentally bumped into were apologetic, or accepting of my apology. Some of the people we befriended in line even passed the cheese (ZING) back to us, which was really nice.
Two favorites: the wasabi cheese and there was a rosemary one in the booth next to it that was pretty good. ALSO: Olive Bread. OH MY LORD was that good.
Beautiful day for free cheese, glad I went.
The best part is the festival pricing. Most cheeses are priced at $5 or $6 for a ~6oz wedge. I have a lot of cheese in my fridge right now.
“… tourists, foodies, and vendors…”
“…to most of the venders…”
You should spell it wrong on the first try when you’re fantasizing about interning at The New Yorker.
…befuddled tourists and weekend connoisseurs…
Which one were you? (Besides fake journalists grabbing free food and drinks at the press reception.)
It was good, though I got claustrophobic at times from hordes of people. I got my cheeses and ran home a happy girl ^-^
They’re just interns. Cut them a little slack.