You Need To Visit Bergen For This Cheesy Reason

Love is great and all – but cheese, actually, makes the world go round. Case in point: the World Cheese Awards (WCA), an international competition organized by the Guild of Good Food, which travels to a different country every year to showcase and award that year’s best cheeses and generally make many people’s tastebuds really happy. This year, Norway will be hosting for the first time, so a trip to Bergen around late October should definitely be on your radar.

Say ‘cheese’

Norway’s dairy game is very strong. You may notice that the butter tastes better here, and it’s not your imagination. Little farms all around the country produce small-batch, artisanal wonders – and Norwegian cheeses, although they don’t get the same recognition as their French or Italian counterparts, are in fact among the best in the world. In 2016, in the WCA in San Sebastián, a Norwegian blue cheese called Kraftkar (from Tingvollost, a small farm in Torjul whose producer said they are “a little family in the middle of Norway trying to do our best every day”) was pronounced the Best Cheese in the World. Last year in the WCA in London, Lille Aske by Bo Jensen got the Super Gold place, and several other cheeses, from farms such as Gangstad Gårdsysteri, got Gold and Silver distinctions. So this year, with the competition being held in Bergen on November 2, everyone has very high hopes for Norwegian cheeses.

Lille Aske by Bo Jensen, the Golden winner of 2017

Bergen, creative city of gastronomy

Will travel for cheese

So what should you expect if you’re in Bergen around November 2? The 31st annual World Cheese Awards, also called “the planet’s largest cheese-only competition,” will feature 3,000 cheeses from 30 countries all around the globe – but that’s not all. The competition will be part of a new food festival called The Food Country Norway, giving Norwegian producers a world stage on which to showcase their unique food and drink offerings. So come hungry, and get ready to explore a world of cheese and gastronomy.

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