Top Kiwi chefs unite to say ‘give cheese a chance’
Chefs from top restaurants are protesting in one of the ways they know best — with food.
Chefs from The French Cafe, The Grove and Waiheke vineyards are posting up photos holding awardwinning artisan cheeses to encourage more reasonable regulation costs.
The makers of Mount Eliza and Cwmglyn Farmhouse Cheese are trying to change expensive regulations that are at risk of preventing them from continuing their work.
Biddy Fraser-Davies, 74, was recently billed $10,000 for testing 10 Cwmglyn cheeses, compliance costs were on top of that.
Josh Barlow, a chef at The Grove, got behind the campaign on October 10 to try to protect the dairy product.
“It’s such an amazing New Zealand product it would be such a shame if we were to lose it and the tradition behind it. If it were to disappear because of all this red tape, bollocks — it’s just not fair.”
Barlow said The Grove had used the cheese for more than two years on its cheese course with crackers and jellies. “It’s out-of-this-world stuff.”
Barlow said if The Grove could no longer obtain artisan New Zealand cheese it would be forced to import which would diminish the quality and the story of the product.
Sabato cheesemonger Calum Hodgson, who distributes the cheeses, came up with the photo idea early this month. He asked about 10 chefs who were “all up for it”.
“I just wanted to do something that showed support and kicked it into a different conversation that wasn’t so — Nikki Preston nitty gritty.” He used the hashtag #AllWeAreSayingIsGiveNZCheeseAChance as it references John Lennon’s song Give Peace a Chance.
“This is all about protecting something I’m very passionate about.”
Fraser-Davies said small artisan producers like her were being pushed to the brink by government rules and the cost of compliance and testing.
Cwmglyn cheese won a super gold award at the British Guild of Fine Foods 2014 World Cheese Awards and was on the menu for Prince George’s NZ playdate the same year.