All about locavorius caseophile, aka artisan cheese lover

This certainly isn’t your run-of-the-mill advertisement for cheese!

Fifth Town Artisan Cheese has been running ads in Edible Toronto magazine that are safe to describe as offbeat. Double-click the ad shown for an enlarged view.

Petra Kassun-Mutch, founder and president of Fifth Town in Ontario’s Prince Edward County, explains: “The goal was to position artisan cheese as part of an active, healthy, conscientious, and engaged lifestyle. Not just a treat for hard-core foodies or for wine and cheese parties . . . and not just for connoisseurs. (We want to appeal to) skateboarders, Harley riders, the gay community, everyone. We also want to attract the younger set to artisan cheeses.”

The design firm that produces the ads—See them all here—is Scout Design of Picton, owner Rene Dick. The illustrator is Carl Wiens, the copy writer, Anna Winthrow.

Petra says the other purpose of the ads is to be a good artisan-cheese industry citizen by promoting the industry as well as Fifth Town: “That is why you see all the links and bookmarks at the bottom. You will note are promoting artisan cheese in general. Part of the philosophy to do well by doing good. Our own logo is a very small part of ad.”

The Locavorius Caseophile ad campaign was one of three finalists in the Best Ad or Ad Campaign category at the Edible Publications Conference and Awards Banquet held in California recently for the 60 publications in the Edible magazine family.

You can provide feedback about the ads and the ever-growing family of Fifth Town cheeses by completing the .

Cheese Boutique hosts Festival of Chefs

Henriot Champagne flows at Cheese Boutique during the launch party for this year's Festival of Chefs.

Chefs from Toronto’s leading restaurants will strut their stuff when the seventh annual Festival of Chefs unfolds at Cheese Boutique over the five weekends of May.

The concept is simple: Let the chefs create dishes with ingredients available at Cheese Boutique. Invite the public to interact with the chefs and—for a donation to Toronto Zoo’s conservation program—let them sample the cuisine paired with a glass of wine.

Here’s the schedule for the cooking demonstrations every Saturday and Sunday in May, from 12 noon to 4 p.m.:

May 1 – Anthony Walsh of Canoe
May 2 – Anne Yarymowich of Frank (AGO)
May 8 – Jason Bangerter of Auberge du Pommier
May 9 – Alida Solomon of Tutti Matti
May 15 – Mike Steh of reds bistro
May 16 – Anthony Rose of Drake Hotel
May 22 – Chris McDonald of CAVA
May 23 – John Higgins of George Brown College
May 29 – Keith Froggett of Scaramouche
May 30 – Jonathan Gushue of Langdon Hall.

Of course, there was plenty of cheese to sample at the launch party.

Five wineries are participating:

  • Tawse Winery
  • 13th Street Winery
  • Cave Spring Cellars
  • Norman Hardie
  • Cattail Creek Estate Winery

Afrim Pristine, co-owner of Cheese Boutique, describes the annual promotion as “a celebration of culinary excellence, of passion, fine ingredients and sharing knowledge.”

Cheese Boutique is located at 45 Ripley Avenue in Toronto’s west end. The photos were taken at the festival launch party last week.

Charcuterie and other taste treats were sampled by guests at the festival launch party.

Artisanal food market opens at CBC

Cheese expert Gurth Pretty. Photo Keith Beaty of Toronto Star.

If you live in Toronto, here’s a new opportunity to support regional growers and artisanal food producers—and buy Canadian cheese.

Starting this Thursday, Regional ‘n’ Artisanal Food Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Barbara Frumm Atrium at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, 250 Front Street West at John Street.

It’s all thanks to Gurth Pretty, cheese guru and author and owner of Cheese of Canada, who lobbied the brass at CBC to obtain use of the indoor space. Other confirmed dates are February 25, March 25 and April 22.

“During the summer and early fall, the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is awash with outdoor farmers’ markets,” says Gurth. “There is at least one each day of the week. Consumers are able to purchase local ingredients directly from the growers or from their representatives. But once the leaves change colour and fall, the outdoor market season shrivels up until (the following) June.”

Vendors confirmed for opening day include:

  • Cheese of Canada (Canadian cheese/dried apple and pear crackers),
  • Kawartha Ecological Growers (vegetables/preserves/eggs/meat)
  • More than Pies Baking Co. (biscotti and bars)
  • Toorshi Foods (savoury pickled vegetables)
  • Warner Farm (Niagara fruit products)
  • ChocoSol Traders and Chocolatiers (cocoa and coffee)
  • Nieuwenhuis Meadows (frozen lamb)
  • From These Roots (flower & fruit jam/salsa)
  • St. John’s Bakery (sourdough organic breads)
  • Evelyn’s Crackers (organic crackers)

Parking is available at nearby parking lots.

Cheese of Canada will have a variety of cow, goat and sheep milk cheeses on sale, including Alpindon, an organic raw cow’s milk cheese from British Columbia, Smoked Gouda from Thunder Oak in Thunder Bay, and award-winning Isabella, a goat’s milk cheese aged for 12 months at Fifth Town in Prince Edward County yet still offering delicate flavours.

The photo of Gurth Pretty appeared in The Toronto Star when it interviewed him on the benefits of raw milk.

Performance enhancing cheddar

Generally, I would not post commercials for cheese but this one for Nolan’s Cheese is worth sharing. Click here to view it. Make sure you have the volume turned up. Watch it to the conclusion before reading further.

In case it did not dawn on you, the commercial is faux. There is no such cheese as Nolan’s and no animals were harmed in the production of the short film.

The film-maker is John Nolan, at the leading edge of animatronics, whose work has been utilized in Harry Potter, Where the Wild Things Are, and Clash of Titans.

He trained a mouse for the opening shots, then built a robotic mouse for the rest. You can see how Nolan works his magic in his showreel. Click here for stills.