As part of its ‘Cheese Up Your Life’ programme, the Dairy Council has launched a competition to give NI foodies and local chefs the opportunity to develop an innovative and inspiring recipe which showcases their passion for cheese.
Enthusiast home cooks as well as anyone who earns their living from cooking are challenged to come up with their most creative cheese recipe. The winner of each category will receive €1,000 each, and an all–expenses–paid trip to Brussels where their winning recipe will be showcased at an exclusive gala event.
Speaking at the launch Dr Mike Johnston, Chief Executive of DCNI said:
The competition is part of a wider programme which celebrates European cheeses from four countries including Denmark, France, Ireland and our own delicious cheese from Northern Ireland. I would encourage any blogger with a keen interest in cooking and a creative flair for recipe ideas to enter, as well as chefs who would like to show off their skills and have their dish featured as part of the Brussels celebrations.
The winners from each of the blogger and chef categories will also attend a symposium to learn about European cheese culture including the science of what makes our cheese delicious, to future trends and the place of cheese in a modern lifestyle.
The Northern Ireland judging panel are cook and food writer Trish Deseine, Joy Alexander, Head of Food Technology Development at Loughry College and Dr Mike Johnston.
The competition is open until 14th April and the judges will be looking for originality, creativity, an explanation of why cheese is ‘star of the show’ in the recipe and, of course, a fantastic taste!
Winners will be announced at an awards event in Belfast on 23rd May.
For more details of the competition, click here
Pictured at the launch at the Merchant Hotel, Belfast are (L to R) judges Trish Deseine, Mike Johnston and Joy Alexander
More photographs from the launch
The competition is part of the European Milk Forum’s ‘Cheese up your life!’ programme taking place in the UK (Northern Ireland), France, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland and is co–financed by the European Union.