Finally, the long awaited debrief of the American Cheese Society Conference 2014, hosted at the Sacramento Convention Center in California! After the first day of the three-day Kraft summer intern event, I hopped on a plane "back home" to stay in the Hyatt Regency for a four-day immersion into the cheese industry. As a new
member of the American Cheese Society, and the recipient of a
student scholarship, I was selected to receive complimentary stay at the "host hotel", subsidized travel, and free registration to one of the best conferences I have ever experienced. It was not only delicious, but educational and a great place to meet new people in the industry. The ACS doesn't currently have a large student association, but I think it will model IFT and start it's own ACSSA :)
Alright, now on to the conference!!
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| Sartori-sponsored First Timer Session @ ACS |
I arrived on a Tuesday (7/29) in the afternoon, just in time to unpack and head to the First Timer's Session at my hotel, by the pool! This session was the first event, and an excellent opportunity to meet other people who have never experienced the conference before! Sartori Cheese hosted the event, and displayed an impressive variety of cheeses -- from peppermint cheeses, to the sharpest Parmesan cheeses. They even had a full service bar and plenty of trivia games, such as "IKEA or Cheese", which aimed to test ACS members to identify weird names as a piece of Scandinavian furniture or an obscure foreign cheese variety.
Tuesday evening was also a popular event, the Pub Crawl! Part of the registration packet (including mozzarella samples, pamphlets, conference schedule, other freebies and tchochkes) was the map/passport to the Pub Crawl. The event had 10 stations at 10 different bars in nearby Sacramento, each with a different cheese company providing samples and appetizers -- for example, Bleating Heart served Fat Bottom Girl at the Lowbrau. At each station, you can get your passport stamped; if you get at least 6/10 stamps, you can turn in your passport to possibly win free registration to 2015 ACS Conference in Providence, RI! The whole event was a great opportunity to explore Sacramento, try some new cheeses, and meet people along the way! I aimed to visit ALL TEN of the stations; by the time I reached #8,9,10 I just wanted them to stamp my passport after I tried a bite of cheese so that I could go lay down! Haha.
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| A brew, and my passport for the Pub Crawl! |
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| One of the cheese-centric appetizer spreads on the Pub Crawl |
My Wednesday morning began with a full catered breakfast to accompany the Annual Business Meeting, where
Mike Taylor, an FDA policy official, could address some of the recent FDA legislation and updates to the Food Safety Modernization Act. His announcements lead to a Q&A and an open discussion with many of the cheesemakers in the audience, such as questions about using wood shelves for cheese ripening, and the ongoing debate of the safety of fluid raw milk. It seems that the ACS will be continuing this open discussion and close relationship with the FDA to get questions answered and produce products more safely. It was really interesting to witness this dialogue, as a student, and see direct conversation between those who make food regulatory policies, and those who must follow them.
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| ACS Business Meeting feat. Mike Taylor |
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| The UC Davis Aggie chef & student scholarship recipients! |
At the Business Meeting, the ACS Board of Directors announced the scholarship winners, who were applauded. Another UC Davis recipient was there-- Sal Gagliano, a chef at the Tercero Dining Commons! GO AGS!
With the scholarship, I got to pick 3 tasting sessions at the conference. The first session was titled "California Cheese and Beer: Agricultural Originals" and was lead by a panel of 3 experts. The resident cicerone (beer conniseur) gave tips on tasting beer such as holding the glass with an open palm, swirling, sniffing, and taking a small sip before taking a gulp of the beer.
The first pairing of beer and cheese was the Linden Street Common Lager (steam beer) with a Teleme (super gooey, creamy) cheese. The combination was quite delicious, with the course bitterness of the beer balancing the spicy bitter notes of the cheese. Other pairings included Anchor Steam and a Dry Monterey Jack, Marin 3 FLowers and Bravo Farms English Cheddar, Firestone Walker Double Jack and Fiscalini San Joaquin Gold, and Drake's Robusto Porter and Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk.
My absolute favorite pairing was the latter! The Drake's Porter was super dark, roasted, chocolatey, and caramelly, which paired well with the Red Hawk, which was salty, ~blue cheese notes, and had a similar texture to fudge. What a great tasting!!
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| This is a spider plot used for Olive Oil |
The second tasting I attended was titled "Cheese Spider Graphs Explained", where the panel lead an educational discussion on how spider plots can be used for Quality Assurance of cheese flavors along the ripening process. The session was 9am and the cheese used in the session was blue cheese--what a way to wake up your senses!! I learned that the spider plot can be a road map for new cheeses to monitor the progress of flavor and display multivariate data in a 2D fashion. You can define the character of product visually, such as texture/appearance and flavor/aroma. From this data, you can determine whether your product is a cheese that builds, maintains, or kills sales. I originally didn't care for blue cheese, but now I know what varieties of blue cheese I do like!
The third tasting that I attended was titled "Cheese, Salami, and Microbes: Parallels and Discoveries", where salami and microbiology experts discussed the parallels between the fermentation of meat and cheese with a scope on the unseen microbial terroir, which can produce unique flavors and aromas in cheese and salami. I learned a lot in this session; the fermentation of these products have the same goals--to preserve raw ingredients via fermentation/aging, denaturation of protein (casein vs. actin/myosin), desiccation (salt, seasoning, pressing), acidification (preservation), and the development of texture and aroma. The microbes involved in the fermentation of both salami and cheese have a common ancestry, mechanism and purpose. I learned a lot more about salami production than cheese production in this session, which was super interesting!
The Opening Ceremony was sponsored by
the California Milk Advisory Board and was held at the historic
Memorial Auditorium. I heard that this was the venue where KISS
played and part of the roof fell on the audience! The auditorium is a
short walk from the Convention center and en route, I met a girl
named Alix, who also received a scholarship to attend the conference!
She works at a cheese shop in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania called the
Wheel and Wedge and she is a cheesemonger! Cheesemongers are often
cheese connoisseurs that also help serve and prepare the hundreds of
pounds of cheeses for each tasting session and event. We walked into
the dimly lit auditorium together, wide-eyed and we were overwhelmed
with the display of cheeses and the live band! Waiters and waitresses
in black and white formal wear were serving all kinds of delicious
hors d'oeuvres, and people were all chatting and dancing along with
the music. There were also various white and red wines being served,
paired with specific California cheeses and appetizers. Alix and I
talked to the California Dairy Princess, and hopped into the photo
booth with funny hats, sunglasses, and tiaras. It was a really fun
event!!
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| The fabulous view of the Capitol from the Hyatt Regency! |
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| Taking notes like a good student! |
Besides tasting sessions, the American Cheese Society Conference also had sessions for discussion and education. For example, I attended several sessions intended to clarify terms (Cheese Facts and Feelings), and to strengthen cheese businesses (The Make Process of Success). In the Cheese Facts and Feelings session, members learned the true meaning of “artisanal cheese” and “GMO”, and were welcomed to ask questions! In the Make Process of Success, John Scharffenberger of Scharffen Berger Chocolate gave specific advice to cheese business owners to strengthen their brand and revive old products.
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| One of the more fruitful cheese displays at Meet the Cheesemaker! |
One of my favorite parts of the entire
conference was Meet the Cheesemaker event, which was basically like
the IFT Food Expo, but exclusively dairy products!! The hall was
packed with people carrying wine glasses and cheese plates, talking
to the owners or employees of cheese companies displaying their
products. Some companies would grill their cheeses ~raclette, or pair
with fruits and nuts. At events like these, I am so grateful to be a
student. I can go up to each cheesemaker, introduce myself as a UC
Davis student, and I am free to ask as many questions and try as many
samples as I like. Often, they would give me whole packaged
cheeses—my shoulder was aching with the weight of my conference
bag!!
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| My fridge, full of cheese samples and beer! |
Another highlight of the conference was
the Awards Ceremony. I know that for many cheesemakers, this was the
ONLY important part of the conference. Everyone crowded outside the
doors to the large room which would host the awards ceremony and a creamery “flash mobbed” the crowd with a choreographed
dance to “California Girls”. Finally, the doors opened and the
people flooded in to find their coworkers, friends, or family to sit
together. This is similar to the Oscars, in the cheese world. I sat
with Andrea Thompson and Amina Harris of UC Davis Food Science!
The awards were handed out by category,
from fresh unripened to washed rind to cheddars. We waved our
California flags with ecstatic pride every time a California cheese
company received an award!From the winners, I knew exactly which
cheeses to hunt down at the Cheese Sales and at the Davis Food Coop
and Whole Foods when I am back in school! You can see the award
winners
here!
2014 BEST OF SHOW WINNERS:
1st Place:
- Farms for City Kids Foundation, VT – Tarentaise Reserve
2nd Place:
- Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, CA – Point Reyes Bay Blue
3rd Place (tie):
- Oakdale Cheese & Specialties, CA – Aged Gouda
- Sprout Creek Farm, NY – Eden
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| The Festival of Cheese! |
With my parents living close enough,
they decided to come to Sacramento to see m
e,
attend the Festival of Cheese, and participate in the
end-of-conference Cheese Sales! The Festival Cheese “featured
the 1,600+ cheeses entered in the 2014 ACS Competition, highlighting
winners and recognized their mastery of cheesemaking. In addition to
an amazing array of cheeses, the Festival of Cheese featured artisan
producers and local purveyors of cheese accompaniments from crackers,
charcuterie, preserves, and honeys, to craft beer that guests sampled
in their commemorative take-away wine glasses.”
It was a lot of fun to explore the large space, sample every kind of
cheese (including all of the award winners, marked clearly with
ribbons), make our own beer/wine cheese pairings,
and socialize with other cheese enthusiasts. I even saw at least ten
other UCD students! My dad and I had fun convincing strangers to try
the Ghost Chili Pepper Jack!!
The Cheese Sales were like Black Friday
at Best Buy –people waited in line, holding the pamphlet detailing
each winner from the Awards Ceremony, stretching their calves to bolt
into the room where the sales were held. Upon entering, participants
could purchase a medium-size insulated bag, which can be filled up to
the zipper with any items for sale, for a fee of $50. All of the
money from the sales funds future scholarships! The room was
organized by cheese category and the room was PACKED. The Duforts
aren't phased and they have their strategy down –Dad camps in a
central location and uses his Tetris skills to pack the cheeses that
Mom and I scavenged from each table in the room. We ended up walking
out with 37 lbs of cheese!!! After the sale, I got to stop by my
apartment in Davis and see my cat :) What a great way to end an
excellent conference!!
Here is the link to my post-conference essay for the American Cheese Society Student Scholarship!!
Many thanks to the American Cheese Society Scholarship Selection Committee for providing me with this incredible opportunity to explore a growing sector of the food industry and for the education that has been bestowed upon me about the world of cheeses. I look forward to the many benefits of being a member of this illustrious and delicious society!
