Page 78 - Almanacco_ENG_2014

Family Farmingpolandurbanites are returning to the land to make artisanal cheeses and create a new national culinary heritagethe gReat polishcheese experiment78 almanaCmatilda gRzelaKThe current trend for artisanal cheeses in Poland is a relatively new develop- ment, brought about mostly by city dwellers who have begun abandon- ing the urban chaos and moving to the countryside. Trying to lead a new life closer to nature, they are start- ing to breed cows, goats and sheep. But what to do with all the milk? Make cheese, of course.a dearth of traditionThe resulting artisanal cheeses are proving to be a milestone in the his- tory of Polish food. Apart from a few examples, there is no strong tradi- tion of artisanal raw milk cheese inPoland. The first cheese production in Poland can be traced back to the mountain shepherds in the Carpathi- an region. Influenced by Balkan cul- tures, they began producing dry, du- rable, smoked sheep’s milk cheeses. As a result of this mountainous isola- tion, cheese production spread very slowly to the lowlands. Most farmers produced little more than dried lumps of quark, which could hardly be clas- sified as cheese. Industrialization and pasteurization in the 19th century led to the domination of cow’s milk cheeses. Then, in the 1970s, large dairy plants began to threaten the sur- vival of the few small-scale cheeses