World Cheese Awards rescheduled for 2021
The Guild of Fine Food has announced that the World Cheese Awards will not take place in Spain this year, amid ongoing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Extending Oviedo’s tenure as host city into 2021, the event is now set to take place from 3rd to 6th November, 2021.
The 33rd edition of the competition will assemble the global cheese community at Oviedo’s Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos a year later than planned, as part of the Asturias Paraíso Natural International Cheese Festival 2021.
Following many months of discussions between the Guild of Fine Food, the Principality of Asturias, the City Council of Oviedo and the Instituto del Queso, the decision was taken in order to ensure the safety of judges, organisers and the general public, while preserving the unique nature of the competition and allowing the region to make the most of its moment in the global spotlight.
With people and place at its heart, including the face-to-face discussions between trained palates from over 30 nations, the decision has been reached to delay the event’s visit to Asturias and commit to staging the world’s largest cheese-only competition, in all its glory, in 2021.
John Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food, organisers of the World Cheese Awards, said: “It saddens me deeply to make this announcement at a time when artisan cheesemakers could do with a lift, but looking at the bigger picture we’ve had to consider what’s best for our hosts, the competition itself and by extension, the cheesemakers that rely on it to place their products on a world stage.
“Each year, we unite the global cheese industry in one city and leave a lasting legacy, but for obvious reasons it’s just not appropriate to mobilise the cheese world on such a large scale right now.
“Furthermore, we feel that the unique nature of the World Cheese Awards would be compromised in the current circumstances.”
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