Northern Irish artisan cheese for Berlin festival

Northern Irish artisan cheese maker, Mike's Fancy Cheese will be launching its successful Young Buck raw milk blue at next month's Berlin Cheese festival.

Taking part at the Berlin artisan festival is a 'first' for the Northern Ireland company and follows its participation at Terra Madre, the slow food event in Turin and a marketing drive in France resulting in sales to several fromageries in Paris and Nice. Thomson is a keen supporter of Slow Food.

Based at Newtownards in county Down, Mike's Fancy Cheese is owned and run by cheese lover Mike Thomson, who turned to crowdfunding to raise cash for the small creamery he launched in 2013. He sources milk from a single dairy herd near the creamery and produces cheese by hand using traditional techniques.

"I am going to Berlin to create awareness in Germany of my Young Buck unpasteurised cheese and also to see what's happening there in artisan cheese," he says. "I've achieved sales in Europe from my trips to Italy and France and would hope to do so again in Germany," he adds.

Berlin Cheese is an artisanal cheese market that takes place every year at the start of November. Founded in 2012, it is sponsored by Slow Food Berlin, Markthalle Neun, and Berlin cheese specialist Knippenbergs.

Approximately two thirds of the 30 to 40 participating cheese producers come from Berlin and the nearby states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommen, Saxony, and Thuringia. The market also features renowned cheese makers from other regions of Germany and European countries such as Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, and the British Isles.

Berlin Cheese is a one-day market, with an expected attendance of eight thousand visitors. It offers the opportunity to engage in conversation with the cheese makers and to taste and buy their products. There is an additional programme of tastings and culinary offerings with cheese, wine, and craft beers.

All of the products offered adhere to the Slow Food idea of "good, clean, and fair" and meet strict quality criteria. They must all be produced with traditional, artisanal methods and be free of genetically modified ingredients, additives, artificial flavourings, and yeast extracts. Artificial sweeteners, aging of the cheeses in plastics, and thickening agents are also prohibited.

Slow Food has around eight hundred members and supporters in Berlin.