metachrono c
Google
I recently attended a cheese tasting event hosted at Chantal's Cheese Shop, and while the cheese tasting itself was a good time, sadly all the circumstances around it severely detracted from it.
You're coming to the event hungry as instructed, but feel compelled to not start eating cheese until the hostess starts discussing each particular slice. Sadly, even getting to the first cheese took at least 30 minutes, during which she spent the time discussing almost nothing cheese related. Rich people, working women, united states laws, Americans, people from Pittsburgh, growing your own food, government overreach. From there, she starts discussing the actual cheese itself, starting with the makers and the farm. Which I’m sure is interesting to some people, but I personally wasn’t hugely invested in hearing the accolades about the farm and the owners. And then, only after 30 minutes do you get to hear 2 minutes of information about the cheese itself. I'm here to eat cheese, I would like to learn more about it directly! What flavors I should be expecting, the softness or hardness, what other cheeses it may be similar to. Something to enhance my eating experience, which is the primary reason I’ve come here to begin with.
And this then repeats for an hour and a half, with no breaks. Really, you're just sitting and listening to someone lecture at you while you eat cheese. And you can't even talk to your fellow table mates during this. You want to ask them about what flavors they notices, share your opinions about the cheeses, and she'll shush you because she's still lecturing.
This would have been MASSIVLY improved by cutting out 90% of the lecture. Take 10 minutes to talk about the cheese itself and a bit about the farm. Go into details about the taste, texture, flavors, anything that will enhance the eating part. Then, give 10 minutes of rest! Let people eat and discuss and think about the food they just ate. Then repeat.
I will say, at least, that the cheeses themselves were fairly interesting, and the pairings were well done. The jams especially were the high point, those were delicious. I write this in the hope that the event will grow and improve. I really wanted to love this, and I think with some changes to the lecture it could be fantastic.