{"id":2597,"date":"2023-10-26T16:26:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T16:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/how-the-swiss-celebrate-cheese-at-la-fete-de-la-tete-de-moine\/"},"modified":"2023-10-26T16:26:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T16:26:18","slug":"how-the-swiss-celebrate-cheese-at-la-fete-de-la-tete-de-moine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/how-the-swiss-celebrate-cheese-at-la-fete-de-la-tete-de-moine\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Swiss Celebrate Cheese at La F\u00eate de la T\u00eate de Moine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For the first weekend of each May the small village of Bellelay, Switzerland, hosts an event filled with wine, food, and games. Central to all the festivities, and the reason for the celebration itself, is a cheese that has been made here for more than 800 years, T\u00eate de Moine AOP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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History of T\u00eate de Moine<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Located in the Bernese Jura in northwestern corner of the country, Bellelay is a municipality built around a Norbertine abbey created in 1136 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Basel. Shortly after the abbey was established, monks began producing cheese to feed themselves and to use as tax payments to the Diocese in Basel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The small cylinders of cheese were originally called Fromage de Bellelay. After the French Revolution, the monks were expelled from the abbey, and the wheels of cheese came to be known as T\u00eate de Moine, literally \u201cmonk\u2019s head\u201d, thought to be named for the balding heads of those who made it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Celebrating<\/strong> T\u00eate de Moine<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Today the village is still tiny, with a population well under a thousand residents. Dairy remains the dominant industry, supplemented by tourism to the Maison and the abbey. The F\u00eate de la T\u00eate de Moine is the largest event held each year, drawing over 15,000 visitors. First held in 2016, the festival was created to not only showcase T\u00eate de Moine cheese but to present other regional products as well.<\/p>\n

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Festival Logistics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The festival is easily accessible by car. Nestled into the hills of the Petit-Val, the road to the village winds through alternating views of tightly-packed evergreen trees towering over the road and expansive vistas of undulating green fields abutting sheer cliffs of Mesozoic limestone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parking at the festival is plentiful, filling the open fields directly across the road. It\u2019s easy to find, mostly because there is a gigantic hot air balloon emblazoned with the T\u00eate de Moine logo gently floating a few feet above the ground, serving as a landmark.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Choosing a place to stay takes a little planning but isn\u2019t difficult to arrange. The festival location features a hotel, the H\u00f4tel de l\u2019Ours. Built in 1698 as a hostel for the neighboring Bellelay Abbey, it\u2019s considered one of the most important examples of turn-of-the-18th-century hotel architecture in the entire Jura region. Rooms tend to fill quickly as the event approaches, however, as many families participating in the festival stay there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the hotel is full, the nearby villages of Tramelan and Reconvilier also offer lodging. The larger town of Biel\/Bienne, with lots of options, is only a half an hour away. Even the capital of Switzerland, Bern, is under an hour\u2019s drive from the festival. There are also lots of rental options for those who prefer the Airbnb style of accommodations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is no entry fee or tickets required to enter the festival. Attendees are welcome to explore as they like. At the center of the grounds is the Maison de la T\u00eate de Moine, a building originally created as an annex to the neighboring abbey. Today, it serves as a museum for the history of T\u00eate de Moine. There is a working dairy on-site, demonstrating production using traditional materials and techniques. Guests can experience the underground cheese caves stacked with maturing wheels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Highlights of the Fete<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The three dozen vendors participating in the festival are all local families and producers of agricultural products and crafts, and the range of offerings is amazing. One stand features handmade ceramic dinnerware adorned with painted images of the cows that dot the countryside. Another offers passersby small pours of absinthe, a powerful spirit first made only a hundred miles southwest of here. Several boulangeries offer freshly-baked loaves of all kinds and sizes. The aromas are impossible to resist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And there is cheese. Lots of cheese. By far the most popular offering is the local T\u00eate de Moine, of course, but each kiosk also presents other locally-made options. At the far end of the path running through the center of the grounds is a group of kiosks clustered together to form a cohesive display, occupied by the festival\u2019s \u2018guests of honor\u2019, Vacherin Fribourgeois AOP<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Demonstrations<\/strong> <\/h3>\n

Throughout the day, demonstrations and presentations are open for people to enjoy. Photo and art exhibits are presented in a tented gallery. Cow farmers demonstrate how to milk animals. Master cheesemakers in the Maison show guests how T\u00eate de Moine was originally made, using copper cauldrons and open fire to create wheels that will age in the cellars below. Every hour, a group of Alpenhorn players gather to perform. Their ten-foot long horns produce rich, sonorous melodies that can be heard for miles, the traditional purpose of the gigantic instrument.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Competition<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The dairy stable building is turned into an arena for the T\u00eate de Moine competition. Producers submit wheels for the panel to taste and evaluate, but it\u2019s not only the judges who determine the winners. Tables are set for the public to sample as well. Each wheel is fixed with a girolle<\/em>, a serving device made famous for its use with this particular cheese. The cheese is impaled on a central spike, and a handled blade set on top. A turn of the blade scrapes a layer off the top, creating a delicate flower of cheese called a rosette. Guests sample each competitor\u2019s entry, and vote for their favorite.<\/p>\n

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Dining<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When it\u2019s time to take a break and have a meal, the Maison\u2019s caf\u00e9 and restaurant serve traditional Jura dishes like r\u00f6sti, a fried potato cake laced with fresh herbs and cheese. Fondue is certainly on the menu as well. To celebrate the occasion a unique blend combining T\u00eate de Moine with Vacherin Friborgeois and Switzerland\u2019s other famous cheese, Le Gruy\u00e8re, is served. Diners plunge hardened bread knots into ceramic caquelons filled with molten cheese mixed with wine and spices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Drinking<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Thirsty attendees have many options from which to choose. Swiss ales and lagers are drawn from hand-carved wooden taps. Crisp, chilled wines made from local grapes such as Chasselas and Petit Arvine are poured as well, a refreshing counterpoint to the rich foods being served.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Entertainment<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the evenings, entertainment keeps the fun going. The first evening, a local comedian performs, followed by music and dancing. Saturday night, the last of the festival, is reserved for a communal fondue experience. Guests who have purchased a ticket gather at long wooden tables. Dozens of fondue caquelons filled with hot fondue are spread out, filling the huge tent with aromas of cheese and bread. Diners never have to reach far for their next morsel. Once again, music and dancing follow well into the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Sunday morning, the festival begins to wind down. Demonstrations are held during the morning, and vendors are still offering food and drink. By mid-afternoon, however, they begin to pack their stalls. A late-afternoon speech brings the weekend to a formal close, although there are always a few straggling visitors gathering in the Maison\u2019s caf\u00e9 and restaurant for a last glass of beer or dip of fondue, not quite ready to call it quits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first weekend of each May the small village of Bellelay, Switzerland, hosts an event filled with wine, food, and games. Central to all the festivities, and the reason for the celebration itself, is a cheese that has been made here for more than 800 years, T\u00eate de Moine AOP. \u00a0 History of T\u00eate … Okumaya devam et “How the Swiss Celebrate Cheese at La F\u00eate de la T\u00eate de Moine”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}