South Africa's Cheese Festival — it's not just for turophiles!

SA Cheese Festival

When I think of cheese I think of things like cheese fon­due, chevin, goats milk, brie, camem­bert, moz­zarella, feta and abso­lute dec­ad­ence. I like noth­ing bet­ter than sli­cing off a piece of cheese when I walk past the fridge at any time of the day or night and I know there are so many cheese lov­ers around South Africa. You will be excited to hear that the South African Cheese Festival is tak­ing place at Bien Donné farm (situ­ated between Franschhoek and Paarl) from 24 to 27 April 2010.

The first cheese fest­ival was held in 2002 and 12 000 eager cheese lov­ers came to see what the fest­ival was all about. The fest­ival has grown from strength to strength with 22 000 vis­it­ors in 2008 to almost 29 000 vis­it­ors in 2009. What’s attract­ing all of these vis­it­ors you may be ask­ing your­self? Well, it's because the SA Cheese Festival is the place to go to find the widest selec­tion of cheese cur­rently avail­able in South Africa. Delicious treats to accom­pany the cheeses will also be on offer — olives, nuts and wine for you to find that magical pairing.

Cheese Festival

With plenty to do, see and taste this fest­ival is a treat for the entire fam­ily. The Checkers Cheese Emporium is an air cooled mar­quee and is def­in­itely the largest selec­tion of cheeses in the coun­try under one roof. Some of the exhib­it­ors in this tent are Ladismith Cheese, Simonsberg, Lancewood and the Checkers World of Cheese. Don’t for­get to pick up your free ticket to see Nataniël in the Checkers Theatre, col­lect your ticket before the show at the theatre ticket office out­side the Checkers Cheese Emporium and get there early as there is only seat­ing for 250 persons.

The Cheese Market is a fant­astic spot where you are able to sample cheeses that have been made using old age meth­ods and hours of patience. This is an old coun­try mar­ket space and the cheeses share the floor with spe­ci­al­ity deli products which enhance one another. You can either fill up your bas­ket here or you can make this your end point where you unpack some of your fab­ulous finds and enjoy them under the shade in the mar­ket square.

Cheese Festival

The Mall is the spot to find the most won­der­ful accom­pani­ments for your cheeses. Your senses will be delighted by the home made pre­serves, breads, wines, nuts, pesto’s and more on offer. Something new and unique to this area is the new SA Olive Experience which is all about olives. Here you can fall in love with olives, or if you are already an enthu­si­ast this is an oppor­tun­ity to pur­chase a tree, taste some of the purest olive oils and sample the vari­ous olives, tapen­ades and other olive products. This is a per­fect place to find gifts for upcom­ing winter din­ner parties.

Find some of South Africa’s well know celebs and icons such as Sarie & Sarie Kos Magazines’ food edit­ors, Beyers Truter and Soli Philander at The Cooking Pot. This team will bring you the best and latest menu items to cre­ate at home with cheese. This is a must for any wan­nabe chef or din­ner party enthusiast.

Cheese Festival

Your chil­dren are not left out of this event as there is a ded­ic­ated Wilde Fruit Juices Kiddies Corner with pro­fes­sional enter­tain­ers to keep the little ones busy while mom and dad find treats to fill their bas­kets. Young chil­dren can enjoy hav­ing their face painted, enter a col­our­ing in com­pet­i­tion or bounce up and down on the jump­ing castle while teens can retreat into the Cheese Chiller tent and watch tele­vi­sion and play games.

Let your chil­dren dis­cover the inter­est­ing jour­ney milk takes to get from the cow, goat or sheep onto your kit­chen table at the Milk Factory. You will be able to taste raw milk, as nature has made it, and learn how to make but­ter and cot­tage cheese the tra­di­tional way from those in the know at the Worcester Museum.

Gourmet Lane & Ladismith Cheese Music Gazebo steps the menu up a bit with del­ic­acies such as fresh oysters, smoked hake and fine foods. Eat drink and be merry while you listen to the sounds of BRAWOU! in the back­ground.  And if music is what you’re in the mood for make your way to the Dairy Square and Music Spot where you can sit down and have a pic­nic with friends and fam­ily while you enjoy the atmo­sphere around you.

Cheese Festival

Need to know
Some import­ant inform­a­tion is that tick­ets for Saturday and Sunday cost R110 per per­son while Monday and Tuesday cost R90 per per­son. This price includes a shop­ping bag, fest­ival pro­gramme (so you can plan where you want to go when), tast­ings and inspir­a­tional demon­stra­tions. No tick­ets will be on sale at the gate so you need to pur­chase your before­hand either in one of the many Checkers stores or from Computicket. Pensioners can enjoy a dis­count as tick­ers are only R70 for the entire fest­ival and chil­dren under 12 years are free of charge.

If you’re not a tur­o­phile, you will be after you have spent the day at this fest­ival! But don’t let that word scare you – it is just a posh name for someone who really loves cheese! Happy tast­ing everyone!

Useful Links:
Franschhoek Events
Franschhoek Attractions
Things to Do in Franschhoek
Franschhoek Hotels
Franschhoek Accommodation

Photo Credits
Photographs cour­tesy of and © SA Cheese Festival