Meeting Cheese Lovers in Seattle

At the Pier for the Opening Reception

We have met some great cheese people. I volunteered to help with the judging of the cheeses and was assigned to the "verification" team. I worked with a French woman and got to practice my French all day! We reviewed all the scoring to be sure the numbers were in the right places and to correct any errors flagged by the computer data entry system. the best part was being in the room where a dozen or so teams of two judges...one technical and the other aesthetic...judged over 1,000 cheeses. Seeing how the process worked and just seeing and smelling all that cheeses was a great experience. There were about 40 volunteers in addition to all the judges. A smooth and lovely process leading to wonderful feedback for the cheese makers who submitted their cheeses to be judged. Tomorrow night we'll learn which cheeses got 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in each of the 100+ categories of cheeses and which was Best in Show.

After a "How To Taste" Session

Before a "How to Taste" Session

The sessions have been informative, and filling. I have been to far too many "tastings." We've seen people we knew through the book research and many new folks too. Tonight we are off to a party and tomorrow, after a day of more sessions, is the grand finale...the Festival of Cheeses. We'll post photos of that for sure.

The Summer of a Thousand Cheeses At the Book Event