The first annual Raw Milk Cheese Appreciation Day was an enormous international success. Truly astounding! The sheer number of enthusiastic celebrations and the overwhelming energy on social media (#rawmilkcheese) both go to show just how powerful we can be as a community by coming together to promote a cause so very important to us – the continued success of traditional, artisan, and raw-milk cheese.
Catherine Donnelly, professor and editor of Cheeses and Microbes (ASM Press, 2015) led a lively discussion around the topic, at the French Cheese Board in NYC, to an audience of cheese professionals and press. The FDA’s strict and rigid rules on raw-milk have limited the access of hundreds of delicious cheeses to the American consumer. It limits the development of American artisan cheesemakers and the importation of specialty cheese from abroad. The Cheese of Choice Coalition, which organized Raw Milk Cheese Appreciation Day, takes a stand to give the consumer options and choices in the marketplace.
