Cheeseheads Unite!

Tetilla. Arzúa-Ulloa. Cebreiro. These three Galician cheeses literally and figuratively pale in comparison to the smoked San Simón da Costa cheese. For me, golden San Simón is the best Galician cheese. And dare I say my favorite Spanish cheese. Can't beat that smoky taste! And this year I finally got around to surrounding myself with the delicious cheese (and free samples) at its annual festival held in Vilalba, capital of the Terra Chá in the province of Lugo.

San Simón is a golden, tear-shaped cheese made from cow milk and smoked on birch wood. The cheese is preserved by the EU's  Protected Designation of Origin. Meaning if it's not made within the town limits of Vilalba with cows from the Terra Chá (as well as a series of other requirements), well then it just isn't San Simón da Costa. In Galician and Spanish the abbreviation of Protected Designation of Origin is DOP, initials you can find stamped on wines and cheeses. Galicia alone has the four aforementioned DOP cheeses and five DOP wines.

The Big Cheese

This year I was once again on the fence about attending the Cheese Festival because of the weather. April showers bring May flowers, and the first weekend of April this year was gloomy. But then I recalled what some local friends had told me my first year here: If you put off plans because of the rain, in Galicia you'll never have plans. So off we went, and I'm glad we did. Plus the weather held up! 

We arrived shortly after lunchtime as the stands were just starting to reopen. It turns out there are less than 10 authorized San Simón cheesemakers, so other cheeses were also present. In fact, there were cheeses from around Spain and even other countries such as France, Portugal, and Switzerland. While cheese was obviously the star of the show, there were also stands with honey, deli meats, plants, and miscellaneous products. There was also a representative from the European Cheese Route, an organization which tries to connect local DOP cheeses and tourism. At that stand we did a little quiz trying out seven cheeses from around Spain.

Carlos Blanco

The opening speech further enticed us to brave the rain clouds. This year's pregoeiro (town crier?) was Carlos Blanco, a well-known Galician comedic actor. He got his break on a TVG (Galician TV) show and now does stand up. We spotted him browsing the stalls before the speech, and asked for a picture. One of the highlights of his speech was that as a child he always wondered why it was called San Simón da Costa, being from Vilalba. ¨Where's the coast?¨ (Apparently, it's because that tiny hamlet of San Simón is where the Terra Chá [literally flat earth] starts to go upwards and get hilly. Costa in Galician means both slope and coast) He also read some opening speeches that AI had prepared for them and honestly it was creepy how poetic they were and also how much AI knows about San Simón cheese. 

After a few hours circling the stands, hearing the opening comments, and having a drink, we left for home, with our own San Simón cheese in hand. I chose Catadoiro because I'd never seen it in grocery stores and also because the owners/cheesemakers just seemed sweet. I must have good taste, because the brand came in second in a Spanish taste test in the category of smoked cheese. Catadoiro Calidade!