Event

"Living on the Wedge: Wisconsin's Artisanal Cheesemakers", with SF Chicago

Great handmade cheese doesn't just come from Italy and France anymore. In fact, wonderful artisanal cheeses are as close as southwestern Wisconsin. That's where Mari Coyne, Chicago's Farm Forager and Slow Food Chicago Board member, takes a roadtrip in the lively documentary, "Living on the Wedge."

We travel with Mari through the lush dairyland of southwestern Wisconsin to meet some of the state's award-winning artisanal cheesemakers and learn about the techniques and traditions that make their cheeses noteworthy. These passionate cheesemakers, many of whom are also farmers, handcraft their cheeses using fresh milk from small farms, traditional methods, and a slice of modern science.

The film highlights the creativity of American cheesemakers and the wide variety of artisanal and farmstead cheeses increasingly available to the American public, especially in the Midwest. We learn how milk from particular animals, at particular times of year, combines with unique configurations of microorganisms, the characteristics of aging rooms, and the personal art of the cheesemaker to produce cheeses with flavors that uniquely express the place and region from which they come.

The viewing of this lively documentary will be followed by a tasting of the cheeses made by these world-class cheese-makers, including:

* Sid Cook - Carr Valley Cheese Company
* George Crave - Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese
* Mike and Carol Gingrich - Uplands Cheese Company
* Julie and Tony Hook - Hook's Cheese
* Willi Lehner - Bleu Mont Dairy
* Anne Topham - Fantome Farm

Cost: $32/person Slow Food members, $42/Non-members
Kendall College students, $5 (password required)
Ticket price also includes wine pairings for each of the cheeses.

Slow Food Chicago is donating a portion of the proceeds from this event to fund a cheese-making apprenticeship for Kendall College students.

For more information on the documentary, visit http://www.livingonthewedge.com