Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
garlands and paraded around the village. The cheese are then rolled around
the church and distributed between villagers.
One traditional festival using Double Gloucester cheese has achieved a
global audience and now attracts visitors from around the word. Cooper's
Hill
18
just outside the village of Brockworth in Gloucestershire, has been used
to roll cheese down since the 15th century. This tradition has promoted the vil-
lage and it has now become a world famous event. During the food rationing
years after the war, between 1941 and 1954, a wooden cheese was used.
In our modern world, the event breaks health and safety regulations and
authorities have tried to ban it. Alas, the cheese is often now a plastic cheese
and Diana Smart, a local cheese-maker has been banned from selling any
cheese that has been rolled down the hill due to health and safety regula-
tions. As a result of the publicity, the fastest cheese chaser down the hill has
been won by an American and a Japanese and there is now a separate wom-
en's event (details can be obtained on
www.cheese-rolling.co.uk
)
. Even negative
publicity can be a positive when it comes to tourism exposure.
Cooking techniques
Fig. 5.7.
Consumers in a cooking class at the Ludlow Food Festival.
Many food preparation and cooking techniques are being lost and food
tourism is a means of reviving and preserving these techniques. There are
numerous examples around the world where the skill is being lost.
Tourism in New Zealand has helped preserve and develop traditional
Maori cooking. The Hangi or earth oven has been used in traditional Maori
cooking for hundreds of years. The technique involves digging a hole in the
ground and heating volcanic stones in the pit, which will not split or splinter
as they heat up. Manuka or tea tree wood is then added which helps flavour
the food. The first thing after that to go into the pit is a basket of meat, which
is covered with a wet cloth and then dirt. The water on the cloth turns to
