Returning to Durham, North Carolina for its second annual cheese extravaganza, the Much Ado about Cheese Festival will take place on Sunday November 9, 2014 from 1pm-4pm. This fun and free event is hosted by the American Meltdown Gourmet Melts food truck, and is intended to be a celebration of North Carolina’s delicious cheese culture. The Much Ado about Cheese Festival will not only be the premiere place to grab some grilled cheese grub on the go, but the festival will also highlight cheeses from these participating North Carolina creameries and shops:
- Goat Lady Dairy
- Piemonte Farm
- Prodigal Farm
- Chapel Hill Creamery
- Six Forks Cheese Shop
- Guglhupf Bakery
- Once Upon a Meadow Farm
- Paradox Farm Creamery
- Durham Cooperative Market
It might come as a surprise to those who live outside of the Tar Heel State, but North Carolina is the lead cheesemaking state in the South. With over fifty artisan cheesemakers who have set up shop statewide, it is a fantastic destination for cheese-loving travelers to visit. Tools such as the North Carolina Cheese Trail Map give visitors the inside slice on where they can find some of the South’s best cheeses. In addition to North Carolina’s dedicated love affair with pimento cheese, visitors can expect to find cheeses that taste distinctively of the landscape, particularly when touring the state’s mountain cheesemakers. Known for cave-aged cheeses that come from mountain creameries – such as the Blue Ridge Mountain Creamery – many of North Carolina’s best cheeses are uniquely flavored by the local environment and cannot be duplicated anywhere else in the world, making each bite of cheese well worth the trip.
Whether you make it to the Much Ado about Cheese Festival this year, or instead start planning a future tour along the NC Cheese Trail, there’s no doubt that this southern state is rich in cheesy flavor.
Photo Credit: Image courtesy of American Meltdown
Emily Dangler
Culture Intern Emily Dangler is a creative writer and travel enthusiast, who is always looking for a good story to tell. Originally a West Coast girl, Emily has spent several years migrating across the country and is currently an adopted resident of Boston, where she is enjoying the city's delicious food and rich history.
