Ch-Ch-Cheese it!

It was recently brought to my attention by a friend of mine that in all my writing about food thus far I have always made a special mention about the cheese in the dish. This should have been obvious to me because cheese has been a large part of my life for some time now. A few specific incidents spring to mind:

- One of the first memories I have of my dad and I eating together and enjoying it (I was a terribly finicky kid) was over a large chunk of old cheddar.
- My mother used to include a large block of cheese wrapped in saran wrap as part of my elementary school lunches - sometimes with crackers, but more often without.
- In grade six I stated in an orientation exercise that my favourite food was cheese, not bothering to specify any subsections to the category.
- In a discussion with my roommates last year we pondered the idea of being forced to give up some x-factor or beer (obviously one of the only true necessities) for life and if there would ever be a food/beverage option you would choose to keep over beer. The only one we could think of was cheese.

Cheese is simply the most versatile food I can think of; the inclusion or exclusion in a dish often acts as the catalyst for its success or failure in my eyes. I sincerely wish I knew more about the elusive quality of cheese, which of course lies in the original casting and aging process, but what I do know is a lifelong pursuit of great cheeses is in the cards for me. One such event has become one of the most unforgettable meals of my life.

It was during my brief stint in Italy, the spring of 2007 - my dad and I were in the middle of our biking portion of the trip. We would bike towards a location and stop midday at a town or small village to explore and eat. On our way to a city called Montepulciano we stopped at the base of the large approaching hill to eat at a small diner that really seemed to stand by itself. In Italy there are typically three courses to each meal: the antipasto, first course and second course, and you were expected to order two of them. I noticed that one of the antipasto options was simply "formaggio," so I chose that in addition to a wild boar pasta as my main course, thinking it would be light enough that I could get back onto my bike and easily tackle the uphill climb.

I was presented with Pecorino cheese, which was everywhere in Tuscany, in three separate large slices: one was very young cheese, one was aged for about a year (described as a medium flavoured cheese) and the last was aged for several years. I was given three small vials of jelly that was specifically meant for the cheese depending on age. The young cheese was complimented with a strawberry balsamic jelly, the medium cheese was eaten with an eggplant jelly and the old cheese with a green tomato jelly, all of which were sweet. I can say with confidence that I have never been so impressed with cheese in my life. The young cheese was nearly as soft as a ricotta, the medium cheese had the stirrings of the older flavour in it while the old cheese was lambasted with it - and it was obvious that each of the jellies was painstakingly chosen. I will never forget this meal, particularly because after this large serving of cheese in addition to the wild boar pasta I was weighed down significantly, making the uphill climb ludicrously difficult.

So there you have it. Cheese - possibly the best edible entity on this planet. The older the better!