{"id":2749,"date":"2024-04-02T04:25:25","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T04:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/the-challenge-the-chase-the-cheese-what-is-british-cheese-rolling\/"},"modified":"2024-04-02T04:25:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T04:25:25","slug":"the-challenge-the-chase-the-cheese-what-is-british-cheese-rolling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/the-challenge-the-chase-the-cheese-what-is-british-cheese-rolling\/","title":{"rendered":"The Challenge, the Chase, the Cheese: What Is British Cheese Rolling?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Cheese

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A cheese rolling contest in action<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cheese rolling may conjure cheese curds gently gathered by an artisanal cheese maker. In fact, it is neither gentle nor artisanal. Cheese rolling involves sending a wheel of cheese rolling down Gloucestershire\u2019s dizzyingly steep Cooper\u2019s Hill. Then contestants run after it. Catching the cheese, a 7-pound Double Gloucester, mid-chase is a nonstarter. It\u2019s been clocked at upwards of 70 miles per hour. The laws of physics are against you. So are the odds of remaining upright. Bruises, sprains and broken bones are common. But, as cheese rolling fans are proud to say, there\u2019ve never been any fatalities, and the sport goes back centuries.<\/p>\n

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History of Cheese Rolling <\/h2>\n

Though some historians trace the event back to Britain\u2019s Roman era<\/a>, the earliest date on record is 1837, according to food historian, Emma Kay. \u201dBritain just loves its quirky and dangerous traditions,\u201d says Kay, author of Stinking Bishops and Spotty Pigs: Gloucestershire\u2019s Food and Drink<\/em><\/a> <\/em>(Amberley Publishing).<\/p>\n

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\"Stinking<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cLike most customs we continue to honor today in the UK, its origins are probably pagan. During the start of summer, it was common to set large bales of hay on fire down Cooper\u2019s Hill in the village of Brockworth, Gloucestershire,\u201d she says. \u201cThe hay, which would have been symbolic of burning away the last vestiges of winter, was replaced by Double Gloucester cheese at some stage, possibly because food during these types of festivals was linked to offerings or fertility. Certainly less dangerous!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Double Gloucester Cheese<\/h2>\n

A hard cow\u2019s milk cheese \u2014 from Gloucester cows<\/a>, if you please, Britain\u2019s oldest breed, Double Gloucester has a plush mouthfeel from full fat. It\u2019s aged for 6 months, is less tangy than cheddar, with a more round and buttery flavor. The cheese has golden glow from annatto seeds and a slightly crumbly texture \u2014 until it meets heat, at which point it melts into gooey greatness. Single Gloucester, made with both whole milk and skim, is a lighter, perfectly lovely cheese, but it\u2019s no Double Gloucester. Back in the 1700s, Double Gloucester was so prized, a wheel cost the equivalent of $240 today. Double Gloucester is a far more affordable treat now, ranging at $10 to $12 a pound, but perhaps free cheese tastes better. Every year, cheese rolling contestants think so. <\/p>\n

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\"Double<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

In recent decades, cheese rolling\u2019s prize Double Gloucester was made by Gloucester\u2019s Diana Smart of Smart\u2019s Farm<\/a>. She took up cheese making in her 60s, and kept it up until she died at the age of 86, just prior to Covid. Cheese rolling was suspended for two years during the pandemic, but it was back this year, and so was Smart Farm\u2019s Double Gloucester, made by Smart\u2019s son, Rod.<\/p>\n

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When is Cheese Rolling?\u00a0 <\/h2>\n

Traditionally, the event takes place on Whit Monday<\/a>, at the end of May. A local dignitary sets the cheese rolling, and then up to 20 contestants tear after it. \u201cThere is no protocol,\u201d says Kay. \u201cYou just run down the hill with the cheese rolling in front of you. The race commences as soon as you drop the cheese. No one actually catches the cheese. It\u2019s whoever manages to get to the bottom of the hill first. If you win the race, you win the cheese.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

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Participating in Cheese Rolling <\/h2>\n

While the event mostly attracts locals, \u201cAnyone can sign up to do it,\u201d says Kay. The winner of this year\u2019s men\u2019s competition, Gloucestershire\u2019s own Chris Anderson, has 22 previous cheese rolling victories, sustaining a bruised kidney, a broken wrist, and a concussion along the way. Anderson, now 34, and the father of two sons, declared this race \u2014 which took place on a cold, wet day \u2014 would be his last. The winner of the women\u2019s competition, Abby Lampe, was a newbie, and a Yank, to boot. Lampe, 21, from North Carolina, had heard about cheese rolling, seen some of the event\u2019s YouTube and Instagram videos, and decided this was worth a go.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to be intrigued by cheese rolling. It\u2019s another to fly to another country to participate. Lampe did it for much for the same reason others scale Everest \u2014 because it\u2019s there. With plans to meet friends in Barcelona for spring break anyway, she built in a visit to Gloucestershire.<\/p>\n

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An American Cheese Rolling Champion <\/h2>\n

Lampe arrived two days before the event and went to inspect the course. The English countryside is full of gently rolling hills. Cooper\u2019s Hill is not one of them. It\u2019s 182 meters (or 600 feet) long with a 1:2 gradient, which is to say nearly vertical. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot steeper than I expected,\u201d says Lampe. \u201cI wanted to run down it. Slipping and sliding down half the hill was not planned.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Abby<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

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\"Abby<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

It happened, anyway. They call it cheese rolling, but there\u2019s a fair amount of rolling and tumbling for participants, as well. For Lampe, who finished mud-caked but intact, it was more about chase than the cheese. By her own admission, she\u2019s more of a Vermont cheddar kind of girl. One month after the race, she hadn\u2019t even tasted her victory cheese. She shipped it home to Raleigh, where she\u2019s become somewhat of a local celebrity. \u201cIt\u2019s just so weird,\u201d she says. \u201cIt only took running down a steep hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lampe has no plans to compete in future cheese rolling competitions. \u201cIt would be too embarrassing to go back and lose,\u201d she says. But she\u2019s looking forward to enjoying the cheese with friends and family. So what does a Vermont cheddar girl do with a 7-pound Double Gloucester? It makes for a superior grilled cheese sandwich experience, the people of Gloucestershire told her.\u00a0 Also lovely with crackers and a pint. Cheers.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A cheese rolling contest in action Cheese rolling may conjure cheese curds gently gathered by an artisanal cheese maker. In fact, it is neither gentle nor artisanal. Cheese rolling involves sending a wheel of cheese rolling down Gloucestershire\u2019s dizzyingly steep Cooper\u2019s Hill. Then contestants run after it. Catching the cheese, a 7-pound Double Gloucester, mid-chase … Okumaya devam et “The Challenge, the Chase, the Cheese: What Is British Cheese Rolling?”<\/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-2749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2749\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}