Cheese Rolling to Launch Chester Food & Drink Festival 2006 WARNING: Contains cheesy content
on Wednesday 15th March, City Centre down Bridge Street, by the Cross, 11am.
Cheshire Cheese is, along with the grinning Cheshire Cat, one of the regions most famous exports and the Chester Food and Drink Festival is celebrating this in it’s Launch Event – the ‘infamous’ Cheese Rolling Championship. Cheshire, again hopes to retain the title.
Cheshire will compete against teams from Lancashire and Stilton, in this battle of the big cheese, together with a team of celebrities for the first time this year. The town crier might even roll up. There will also be a producers market with 10 stalls selling quality local fayre.
Teams are already in training with Cheshire on a roll as the current title holders. Lancashire and Stilton are being very mature about the whole thing. Nigel White of the Stilton Cheese Makers Association; “Stilton is known as the King of Cheeses and this challenge gives us the opportunity to prove it. We have heard that the Cheshire team is confident of victory again but we are sure that we can prove that not only is Stilton the most popular of English cheeses but that our team is King of the Cheese Rollers!”
Entertainment will also be provided by The Dragon Theatre Company, an internationally flavoured class-act with Monsieur Fromage and members of the winning team of the 1882 Cheese Rolling Challenge. Harry Kingham will be towering over everyone with his ‘stilts on’ (rather than Stilton).
For more information about other events happening over the Chester Food & Drink Festival please visit Click here to view the website .
Chester’s Food and Drink Festival is organised on behalf of Chester City Council with support from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Visit Chester & Cheshire; the tourism board for Cheshire and Warrington, Cheshire County Council, Made in Cheshire and North West Fine Foods.
Ends 288 words
PHOTOS (300dpi plus), FULL BIOGRAPHIES, PRESS OFFICE & REGULAR UPDATES at http://www.marketingprojects.co.uk/news.asp?clientid=2 linking from the Festival web site at Click here to view the website
Background
Chester’s Food and Drink Fringe Festival will also take place around the City from 12 – 22 April 2006 involving special offers for accommodation and eating out to excite the whole family. There will also be the famous Cheese Rolling ceremony on 15th March, the Bottle Cap Mosaic World Record Attempt on 3rd April and the Ale Assize around the City on 22nd April.
Nearly 100 producers and exhibitors now completely fill the taste marquee. Each will be bringing their own skills and produce from Cheshire, nearby counties and around the world to be part of the Festival.
There are to be seminars and competitions in micro brewing, wines, sausages and cheeses and the opportunity to taste local paté, black pudding, bread, cereals, oils, pies, meat, fish, cheeses, chocolates, liqueurs and even a juice bar.
The prestigious gala dinner and awards ceremony takes place on Tuesday 18th April. Entries for the award categories are already being received.
CHEESE Notes:
The Competition is a celebration of the fact that Cheshire cheese, arguably one of the oldest cheeses in the world, has seen a huge revival in its popularity in recent years. Market share has climbed steadily over the past 12 months as punters realise that the pale, bland mass-produced cheese, which often carries the Cheshire name, bears very little resemblance to the genuine article.
Cheshire cheese dates back to Roman times and was originally said to be made in a mould shaped like a cat, later made famous as the smiling Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. When the Romans invaded Britain back in the 54 BC they found a hardy race for whom cheese was their chief diet. It is a recognised fact that the Romans build Chester due to the value they placed on the cheese produced on its salty plains (and to keep the Welsh at bay). Mentioned in the Domesday Book, a favourite in the Elizabethan court and admired and written about by Charles Dickens, Cheshire Cheese continued to flourish and was considered the best in the country. While Romans are no more, the secret of the excellence of Cheshire Cheese remains, and, thanks to the award-winning efforts of producers such as HS Bourne, consumers are rediscovering the wonderful, true taste of Cheshire again.
The term ‘Big Cheese’ derives from a medieval term of envy for those who could afford to buy expensive whole wheels of cheese.
There are only six dairies licensed to make Stilton cheese in the whole world. They are based in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and there are very strict rules to which they must abide to keep the product pure. For example stilton must be made using local milk and can only be made in a cylindrical shape. More information at www.stiltoncheese.com.
There are over 400 varieties of British cheese available. Approximately £1.5 billion of British cheese is bought annually. Cheshire Cheese is the UK’s largest selling crumbly cheese with sales of around 6,500 tonnes per year, this compares with Stilton’s sales of approximately 53,000 tonnes. Sales of cheese in the UK grew 1-2% during 2002 compared with 2001. However, compared to other EU countries, the UK is among the lowest consumers of cheese: consumption per head in the UK is roughly 55% of the average consumption in the other 14 member countries.
Festival brochures are available across the City from March. Phone 01244 351609 for more details.
For further information on the region please visit Click here to visit the www.visitchester.com website .
Press Contacts: Jane Harrad-Roberts Mob: 07785 395705 Phil Brotherhood Mob: 0788 44 93370 MARKETING PROJECTS : Tel: 01244 330000 Click here to email us
Return to Chester Food & Drink Festival 2006 listings
> Return to Client Press Office
