Fromage, Cheese, Queso

"Aunque la mayoría de los quesos “famosos” son españoles, ingleses, suizos, italianos o franceses, el queso no es oriundo de Europa: el queso original es árabe."


Here is my newest piece on Mexican cheese in Spanish for Letras Libres - Fromage, Cheese, Queso.

Asociación Mexicana de Queseros

As many of you know, I am involved with various cheese projects in Mexico. The principal one is in Chiapas, where I have been advising for the past four years the Ministry of Agriculture (Secretaria del Campo) on flavor profiles of two of the most famous cheeses. Another one is supporting cheesemakers and affineurs in Queretaro and Michoacan and the last one is to create the first cheese-aging facility in Mexico City along a small educational center. While many have asked me to join efforts and turn my cheese interest into a full time commercial endeavor that is completely involved in selling cheese in Mexico and exporting to the US, Canada and Europe, I have decided to stay out of that game for a while and let others more knowledgeable of marketing start businesses.

However, I do have opinions on the way Mexican cheese should be commercialized, how farmers, cheesemakers, and affineurs should be supported and on legislation that could foster growth in this industry. The industry that I am referring to is the one that produces artisanal cheese based on the protection of Mexican culinary culture. I am less concern about large dairy conglomerates, as they have already found a way to turn profits for their investors. Still, I have not been able to decide the best way to move forward, but I know we need to start an organization that can support Mexican cheesemakers and bring better products to consumers.

A while back, a very enthusiastic french transplant to Mexico proposed me to start the Mexican Cheese Society, modeled after the American version (ACS). A Mexican professor of dairy sciences suggested contacting the Guilde des Fromagers and ask them to start a chapter in Mexico. Finally, an American scholar involved with the ACS proposed to follow the Canadian example and first start state organizations that would support themselves with expertise and lobbying power and then expand to the country, just like the Ontario Cheese Society is now doing it. She offered the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association as the best American example of a powerful and knowledgeable association. I have also looked at the models created by the British, Irish, Australian and New Zealander cheesy enthusiast. They all have great ideas, but in my opinion they are missing something. In essence most of their organizations are trade associations mostly started by cheesemakers to concentrate their efforts on pushing local legislators to gain grants, resources, or to move legislation in benefit of small dairies. Few of these organizations expand their efforts to include distribution companies (food companies), in a push to court an unlikely ally in the race to sell more cheese. The problem with this unlikely pairing is that in most markets, small cheesemakers and food companies are in two different businesses all together. Artisanal cheesemakers are in the business of turning milk into cheese to sustain themselves, their lifestyles, to feed people with good cheese, and some times to produce small profits to their investors. Food companies are in the business of making a profit from transportation, consolidation, distribution, and marketing of food. The difference in business models pits the two camps in a battle where cheesemakers seek to be paid better for quality products and food companies would like to pay less to producers while charging more for processed food to consumers.

I know this reads as a familiar complain against large supermarket chains, food consolidators, investors, and consumers of commercial products. Still, I believe there is something to be said for a different way to organize ourselves and to think about the way we feed ourselves. I am not claiming that I have all the answers or that I do not consume commercial products, benefit from food consolidators, or sometimes shop at supermarket chains. I am instead trying to contribute ideas to a discussion that many times feel stagnant in accusations and apathy to have a conversation about change. Here are two sample articles of what I am talking about, in B. R. Myers' article for The Atlantic the denunciation of foodism is enough to turn you off of ever thinking about the politics of what you eat. In the response from the Village Voice's Robert Sietsema, you are left with accusations that do not help in trying to answer the underlying question of both articles: why are there so many people writing about food? If you add to your reading list this guest post from my friend Jen Boylan for Svelte/Gourmand and this video on TED on a lecture by Carolyn Steele on "How food shapes cities," you may be left with the desire to do something but not know what to do. On my end, I always feel tired and walking over the kitchen to grab a piece of cheese to feed my apathy in trying to think what to do next. I think Jen is in the right direction in trying to engage in the conversation and allowing for the hard questions to be asked by her students. However, not having a group of interested teenagers has turned me to the Internet and to writing this blog. Still, I'm not sure how I contribute and if maybe it is just best to keep eating and worry my pretty-little head with flavor rather than politics. I'll be honest; sometimes I do wish I could become the head cheese buyer for a large store and travel around the world only worried about container measurements and temperature levels, instead of humane animal treatment. Still, I know from talking to the head buyers at Whole Foods, Tesco, Provincial Fine Foods, Murray's Cheese, Sheridan's Cheesemongers, and many other cheese consolidators around the world, that the politics are always present and they not only worry about profit margins but also about the livelihoods of the cheesemakers. Heck, even the dairy buyer for Walt-Mart in Mexico told me during an event in Chiapas that they too were thinking on the best ways to support local cheesemakers, but still needed assurances that their products will be shelf-stable. So, what is there to do?

I think, we still need more transparency about what we eat, where it comes from, and the ways that our choices impact our environment and societies. It is for this reason, that I envision an Asociacion Mexicana de Queseros, not only as a lobby or trade group, but also as an organization that supports educational projects at all levels. In my head, it looks like a research institute investigating and disseminating the best practices to care for animals, and how to produce, market, buy, consume and ultimately enjoy better cheese. My idea is a think thank / consumer organization / center for the distribution of knowledge. This idea already exist around wine, with many enology institutes that produce great scholarship on the many issues relating to wine production and consumption.

The first steps to create a trade organization in Mexico are already underway. I am not longer part of that effort, because I'm still not sure that this is what Mexican cheesemakers need. Still, I am not completely stepping out and rather I am consulting with many cheesemakers in Mexico and around the world on the ways to build a better movement. A movement that supports livelihoods, educates, and also informs consumers of their choices. If you would like to contribute with your ideas, please email me. I will soon present a finalized idea that has input from cheesemakers and academics in Mexico.

Here is other link to a good article on The Atlantic by Josh Viertel on the way we need to lobby for better information: Froot Loops vs. Real Fruit: For Real Change, Don't Look to Obama.

Feria de Fomento Gastronómico Nacional

There is a really interesting group of Mexicans and foreigners living in Mexico City working towards a more sustainable future. They are doing this by supporting local producers, learning how to eat, shop and promote small producers and to recover part of the culinary culture that Mexico is quickly loosing with the commodification of markets. I have come to learn about their work by following other Politics students tweeting about many issues in Mexico, one being good food. They too have a passion for food and politics, I call them the lactographers and along some awesome people around the world we have a vision of eating better, while also helping small producers keep their livelihoods.

It is for this reason, that Lactography goes beyond the blogosphere and the halls of cheese contests to let residents of Mexico city to taste some of the most amazing cheeses being produced in the country during a unique event hosted by a group of students concern on issues of sustainable gastronomy. Lactography will have a small stand with cheeses from Chiapas, Queretaro, Oaxaca, Puebla and Michoacan; showcasing five styles of traditional Mexican cheese.

The event details are:

Cocinando el Futuro de Mexico
Dia: 18 de Noviembre - 11 AM a 6PM
Lugar: Universidad Anáhuac del Sur

If you are in Mexico City, make sure you go and visit. There will be two cheesemongers trained by me (one is my sister, who shares my passion for food) and you will be able to taste, purchase and learn more about our culinary culture.

Festival del Queso - Ocosingo 2010

Festival del Queso
Date: 13 -14 August 2010
Place: Ocosingo, Chiapas, Mexico

I will be judging approximately thirty cheeses and will be giving a speech entitled: Los Quesos Mexicanos Genuinos: La necesidad de una legislacion quesera (Mexican Genuine Cheeses: the need for cheese legislation)

Follow me on twitter @carlosyescas, as I will be micro-blogging from there.

Culinary culture

If you follow me on twitter, you may know that I am fighting a very-familiar battle for cheesers out there. The battle is against big dairy corporations, their lobbyists and elected officials with no backbone. The fight is over pasteurization and this time the battleground is Mexico. However, the fight does not look much different in the rest of North America, Australia or New Zealand for that matter.

My battle is against a law proposed in the Federal Congress by the Ministry of Health that would outlaw cheesemaking using raw milk. The passage of the law would not only criminalize small artisanal producers, it will also constitute an assault to our culinary culture.

Yes, I know that both charges are really strong, but that is exactly what this proposed law (we'll call it NOM 243 by it's filling number) would do. Let me explain why and present the case for raw milk cheeses in an entirely Mexican context. If this sounds familiar to you, but you are not from Mexico or live there, it may be because a very similar situation exists in your country.

Let's start with a basic facts, Mexico did not have cheesemaking or any dairy industry before the colony. It was with the arrival of the Spanish and Italian monks that cheese made it's way to Mexico. This, however, does not mean that cheese is still foreign to Mexican cuisine. What it means is that cheese, like many other food ingredients in Mexican cooking, is a clear representation of a complex, varied, and vibrant culinary culture.

This culture inherits a strong indigenous sense with ingredients like corn, chilies, chocolate, cactuses, tomatoes, and vanilla. It borrows techniques from Spain like salting fish and meat and integrates milk (and it's by-products), bread and most meat into the cuisine. But the story does not end there. Mexican cuisines also learnt and incorporated French sauces, Italian meat curing, Chinese soups and broths, and we also use tahini and pickles from Mexicans whose backgrounds are Lebanese and Jewish. Increasingly our food is also influenced by new immigrants from Haiti, Argentina, Central America, Brazil, Korea and also from the US.

It is exactly within this diversity that Mexican cheese finds its place in our cuisines. Cheese in Mexico is not only a food product, for many is a way of life. Here I am talking of the small artisan producers who produce unique cheeses in all regions of the country. Think for a second of the Menonites of Chihuahua, the small communities (some indigenous peoples included) of Oaxaca and Chiapas who make Quesillo or Queso de Bola or Queso de Cuadro and of small ranchers in Michoacan who turn amazing raw milk into Cotija cheese. Those artisan cheesemakers learnt their craft from their grandparents who in turn learnt from their grandparents. Most of them use raw milk to make their cheeses. They have small herds that are taken care by the immediate family and worry a lot about the well-being of their cattle, their cheese and their customers.

If the proposed law passes, it would criminalize their way of living. Most of them would have to leave cheesemaking as they won't be able to afford pasteurizing machines and will rather sell milk for liquid consumption. Others would defy the law and continue making cheese with raw milk, but their productions will be pushed to the illegal market raising the real risk of having an outbreak of food-related illnesses from dairies that are not carefully inspected and regulated.

That situation already exist in Mexico, as there are laws in place for limiting the use of raw milk, but this law will completely outlaw this practice. Just to be sure, I am not advocating for no regulation. I am arguing that we don't need laws that prohibit completely traditional ways of cheesemaking and that instead we need strong mechanism for monitoring that the raw milk that is used for human consumption is clear and free of pathogens that can affect human health.

In a sense this proposed law is the option to solve a problem on the cheap. By outlawing all production of cheese with raw milk, the government only needs to enforce the law by sanctioning producers who go against the law. While establishing a monitoring system, guidelines, and trainings for dairy producers and cheesemakers, is expensive, labor intense and requires long term planning. Outlawing something from a comfy office in Mexico City is the easy way out.

The project that I am involved with in Chiapas to create a collective trademark for the Queso de Cuadro is the right solution. This project involves producers, farmers, government and academia in finding a way to maintain traditions while ensuring that cheesemaking is safe and clean. It is an initiative that has the backing of many stakeholders, making it a slow process, but at the same time it ensures that the ultimate decision would have the backing of all involved.

So what is it about raw milk? Why are so many of us fanatics of it and what does it have to do with Mexican culinary culture? Before I answer to these questions, let me tell you a short story about one of the cheese judging competitions that I hosted in Chiapas.

In my first trip to Chiapas, I tasted 45 samples of Queso de Cuadro. There were producers from the many regions of the state, and while most cheeses tasted similarly I was able to taste the terroir of the farms where these cheeses were produced. Those from the mountain region were dryer and fattier. The ones from the plains were more lactic (milky) with fresh smell of grass and those from the coast were sweet and aromatic (like tasting flowers). One cheese from the coastal region stood up in smell and flavor. It was sweeter than the others and the smell reminded of ripe fruit instead of flowers. After the competition, I asked the producer of this unique cheese about his herd, the location of his farm, the weather in the region and finally about the feed the cows eat. I was surprise to find out that while his dairy is similar to all other in the region the feed that he gave the cows included a stick of sugar cane in the middle of the day. He said that the cows loved the sugar and produced better milk. He said that he was worried that I was gonna ask him to stop feeding sugar canes to the cows. Instead I was for the first time realizing how much impact feed has on the final flavor of the cheese.

Pasteurization kills harmful bacteria and pathogens in milk, but it also destroys all the complexities in the milk from the various aspects present in the terroir. This means that flavors are more generic and it really doesn’t matter where cheese is made, as no trace of the location where is made is maintained. However, taste alone is not enough to argue that milk should not be pasteurized, especially if there are concerns about the quality of the milk.

Here is exactly, where the minutia of the argument becomes relevant. The solution is to ensure better milk, cleaner and safer techniques, and also to care and be responsible for milk producers’ livelihoods. This is impossible to achieve when the only reasoning behind producing milk is to turn a profit. Milk, while treated as a commodity in economic markets, it is also a food for human consumption. However a lot of people, companies and farmers forget this. They only see dollar/peso sings in the liters/gallons of milk produced and not a food with nutritional value, a story and benefit for our population. Food companies are not in the business of feeding people, they are in the business of making profits with products that we all need daily.

We need to move away form this economic model, which is ending traditional ways of production and hurting our environment. The solution is smaller farms, local consumption and care for the trade of farming. This is why I advocate for raw milk, to support our dairy farmers who are willing to produce good milk for us because they love what they do, not because they want to turn a profit at expense of the animals and the consumers.

If you are interested in learning more about the campaign in Mexico against NOM 243 follow me on twitter (@carlosyescas) and make sure to be ready to talk about raw milk to everyone that needs help understanding why this matters.

For resources in English visit the Alliance for Raw Milk Internationale, they have info about similar movements all around the world.

Queso is Cheese

Recently someone asked me about a good cheese book. I quickly responded that there are none in Spanish (at least not online or in bookstores in North America). What this means is not that cheese is not consumed or a big part of Latin American cuisines. What it means is that up-to-today book publishers have not seen a market in producing an original work about this food in the Americas. There are a couple of translations of good books produced in Europe and the US, but they only concentrate on what I normally call: The Big World Cheeses.

Those cheeses are the popular cheeses from France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands and England that most people know and have many imitations. Think of Brie, Camembert, Provolone, Mozzarella, Parmesan, Gruyere, Emmental, Manchego, Gouda, and Cheddar.

The lack of specialized cheese books in other languages is common. My friend Svetlana just filled this gap by publishing a compendium in Russian and I know that some of the judges of the World Cheese Awards are thinking of producing similar books in various languages. In my case, I am thinking that it will be great to write such book in Spanish for the Mexican and the Latin American market - so I am looking for a publisher (does anyone know anybody?)

I know that there is a desire for such book as some people involved with the American Cheese Society are looking to start a Mexican chapter of the organization and learn more from the cheesemaking of Mexico. I hope to be more involved with this project over the summer and hopefully get some Mexican cheeses to enter the World Cheese Awards competition this year in London.

But in the mean time, I would like to write here a little bit about Mexican cheeses. I have already written in this space about two of the Mexican cheeses from the southern state of Chiapas. Queso de Cuadro y Queso de Bola are both raw cow's milk double cream cheeses. They are tangy, salty and smooth. Almost like a goat cheese in texture but with the flavor punch of a sharp cheese.

Other cheeses produced in Mexico are: Quesillo from Oaxaca; Cotija of Michoacan; Queso de Poro made in Tabasco; Requeson common in central Mexico; Menonita, Adobado, Botanero y "Manchego" (Mexican Cheedar) from the north, and a stinky washed rind from Baja. Other cheeses made of goat's and sheep's milk are starting to be made in central Mexico, but still are single farms with generic names that could use support to improve on their cheese making techniques and decide on characteristics of their cheese.

In this most recent trip to Mexico, I have had "manchego," cotija and quesillo. In the next posts I will write about them, except for cotija. I have very little knowledge of this cheese, but I have a good friend who wrote a paper for the FAO about it and is doing a PhD on a related topic. I have asked Thomas to write a little post about cotija and I hope this will be the first of many collaborations for this blog.

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Queso de Bola

Queso de Bola has already received its collective trademark and this particular one is going to be entered as one of the Mexican cheeses for the 2010 World Cheese Awards.

We hope to have the backing of the government of the state of Chiapas to send at least one producer to London next year.

Cheese knowledge

The trade fair here in Chiapas included producers from all the states of Mexico.

Many states brought cheeses to showcase and some of them were excellent. After judging my share of Queso de Cuadro, I was asked by all the producers from the other states to taste their cheese and judge it too.

This was particularly difficult as I felt that I was expected to tell them that their cheese was excellent, so that they could use my endoresement to sale more. I, however, believe that they will benefit more from a honest assesment.

Bob Farrand during the briefing to the judges at the WCA asked us to do two things. 1) to not judge any cheese against another cheese, but to judge it against the best that cheese could be, and 2) to offer positive feedback on how to improve each cheese.

I tried to do the same here and explain to people that taste is subjective and that I was only tasting to offer advice on how to improve each cheese. Some producers took my recommendations really hard and replied that either I had no way to know about their cheese or that I was too young and from the "capital" (from Mexico City).

Both these arguments go to the core of cheese judging. This practice is to most people highly suspicious, even more when it is done by someone percieved as foreign. That was not just the case here, but also in the Canary Islands were some of the reporters from the local press questioned how someone like me or the judge from Japan or South Africa could know anything about European cheese.

I agree with the suspicion, but also think that most of these type of comments are not against our expetise or passion for cheese, but our position as non-cheesemakers.

Cheesemakers devote their lives to making wonderful products and some distrust non-cheesemakers. They are right to question judgements, as I too would like them to distrust recommendations that could cheapen their products. However, turning a blind eye to informed opinions also causes cheeses to stop developing and become the bland commercialized cheese that some DO cheeses have turned into.

I am writing this post as I leave Chiapas and hope to be here next year to judge the development of the cheeses that advice. I am humbled by the opportunity to be here and intend to keep learning on cheese, so that my recommendations are always more informed.

PS. The winners of this year taste will be announced soon. Once this has happen I will share the names and companies that presented excellent cheese so people can seek them when in Chiapas.

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Cheese of the Week: Queso de Cuadro

After tasting 50 samples of this cheese. I had to make it the cheese of the week.

This cheese is produce only in Chiapas and it varies from region to region. The cheese is commonly made with raw cows milk and some producers make small batches with pasteurized milk for some specific markets.

I believe the best examples are from the Ocosingo and Costa regions of the state of Chiapas. Those cheese are creamier, more milky and fresh, and overall better in texture. This may be due to the better pasture in those regions and a smaller incidence of cows eating silage.

A recent issue with this cheese is the use of milk from cows eating the infamous "pollinaza" and "gallinaza." Basically chicken feces. The region around Tonala has one of the largest chicken processing plants in the state and therefore produces a lot of "feed."

The producers in this region had started using the feed until the government started monitoring and discourage the use of milk from cows on this diet for the making of raw cheeses. However, some cheesemakers are still using it for pasteurized versions. The Minister of Agriculture of the state promised me that by the end of the year they will have a total ban.

Still the issue of feed for cows is important and I will write about it soon. Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilema is a good read to learn about feed.

This style is commonly found in in the major cities of Mexico, in Guatemala and in Texas (only the pasteurized version).

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Southern dispaches

I'm in Chiapas, in Tuxtla Gtz for one of the biggest trade fairs in Mexico. There are about 300 producers, 31 international and 50 national buyers. Coffee, cheese, fruit, veggies and other food products are for sale.

I am here to taste about 50 cheeses, of the Queso de Cuadro style. Today, I'll be leading a private tasting for some government officials, where I will stress the importance to not push pasteurization on cheesemakers. I believe the milk used for these cheeses is of great quality and in chemical analysis experts from the University of Chiapas and Chapingo have found below average of harmful bacteria. So pasteurization at this point will only destroy the complexity of the milk flavor.

During breakfast this morning, I wanted to have some cheese from the buffet and to my dissapointment the options were the infamous slices of bland "American" cheese. I cannot believe that having so many wonderful producers meeting in the city, the platter did not included a single cheese made in Chiapas.

When I pressed the restaurant manager about it. The response was telling of the overall feeling in Mexico about our own products. He said to me - Cheese here is not good and I can get this from the general caterer.

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