A brand-new cheeseboard with more cheese than any in the world is on its way to the Winter Olympics in 2022.
The cabinet will be named World’s Best. It has been specially created by Austrian griller Marco Lagarriere, and will contain 80 different types of cheese spread, plus several different meats and other ingredients to liven it up a bit.
The four-times Formula One world champion has served up some great cheeses over the years.
“From Pecorino to Camembert, from Gouda to Fogies — not to mention paella, truffles and caviar — Marco has cooked up something that requires the power of the imagination and sometimes even a little bit of luck,” the official website said.
“But his chefs in Austria have all been out to school, and it shows in the creations that Marco loves to come up with.”
The key components that make up the world’s best cheese? Fresh is key, with as little refrigeration as possible. Ewww!
Rudinha is an extra special cheese that Lagarriere personally developed himself for the Olympics.
To create the cheese for the festival, on top of three cows in a modern dairy barn, Lagarriere selected raw milk from one of the thousands of cows in the world near his home.
And that’s where the fun really begins.
“Three cows are, to me, the human race,” the world’s best griller said. “To me, if you do it right, with them, you have something like perfection.”
Hot-blooded beasts make great cheeses, and Lagarriere’s extensive tasting list includes such iconic items as Camembert, Fruche, di Sutter Bleu, Havarti, Gouda, Fillet de Boeuf, Mozzarella, Gruyere, Emmental, Feta, Gorgonzola, Gruyère, Montasio, Barbaresco, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Fontina, Portobello, Caviar, Basque, Emmental and Montasio.
And there’s plenty of surprises, too, such as Oraefle Red Lentil and Ricotta cheese, and Grana Padano and Tesoro cheese spreads that just might be the smartest attempt at cheese-themed food since the International Runners Runners brought a salad dressed with cheese.
And you can add chilled Le Coq Au Vin garlic oil to all of that.
The International Cheeseboard Festival is a new take on the old winemaking fete
which has long defined Alpine culinary art. In fact, wine festivals have replaced the more traditional string quartets and mosh-pit ham wrestling in many ski areas as those celebrating winter sports abound, too.
But you can forget all of that cheese fest glamor. The World’s Best wouldn’t even be a cheese festival. It’s not even the World’s Best Fest. It’s a cheese- and meat-fueled culinary and tourism showcase.
How did that make you feel?
Egbert Schumacher/DPA via AP
Like every year, this year’s World’s Best in Beer won’t be British, but Austrian. And with Eurovision, Eurohockey and the German tour, Austrian wine should be flying off the shelves by the ton.
But cheese aside, nothing on the whole summit of Austrian sporting prowess will surpass the rich combination of German, Austrian and Swiss traditions offered up in one of the world’s greatest ski resorts. Austria also boasts long-standing ties to the Vancouver Winter Olympics (it was a charter-member of the International Olympic Committee) as well as the higher altitude Alpstein Institute at Oberstdorf.
Sixteen different types of haggis, inspired by Scottish favorites, will be on offer, along with Corriedale cheese, part of the local specialty.
And on top of everything else, there’s the usual, making the new World’s Best Cheeseboard Festival just the latest iteration of those amazing springtime events in Lech.
The first ever Cheese World Championships took place in 1991 with some 28,000 visitors making the long trek to the alpine village for the vintage fair.
And when the World’s Best in Beer eventually concluded it had won 10 of the 15 awards available.