Minas is once again in celebration.
One of its most traditional products, Canastra cheese, was chosen by the American website The Taste Atlas in June 2022 as the best in the world.
The TasteAtlas Awards created an interactive map aggregating recipes, reviews, and articles about popular dishes or ingredients around the globe, where users can evaluate cuisines and recipes from all over the world.
The ranking of the specialized page selected the 50 best cheeses from around the planet, highlighting the delicacy from Minas.
In this, the gastronomic evaluation counted, above all, on the participation of travelers from around the world in creating its content and audience votes.
Canastra cheese, besides being the only Brazilian cheese on the list, ranks first, leaving behind Pecorino, the Portuguese Serra da Estrela, as well as Parmigiano Reggiano and French Mont d’Or in a selection made by the gastronomy guide alongside the most famous cheeses in the world, such as gorgonzola, grana padano, and pecorino, which includes the participation of travelers from all over the world and features 50 types of cheese.
But this is not news for the people of Minas and their cheeses. Recently, the jury of the Mondial du Fromage, the most important cheese competition in the world, in Tours, France, awarded three Super Oro (yes, “super”) medals to samples from Serra da Canastra, and the Brazilian artisanal cheese industry has carved out a significant slice of the global scene. An additional 58 Brazilian samples won gold, silver, and bronze in a competition with a thousand cheeses from 40 countries.
Valuing Local Producers
Entrepreneur creates the “Canastra Cheese Route” to discover the mechanisms and production of cheese
An ambitious and brilliant project led entrepreneur Jordane Macedo, director of Culturar, (photo), an events company, who saw a great opportunity after producing an event celebrating the 84th anniversary of São Roque de Minas in partnership with the city hall.
He says, “Whenever I went to the Canastra region, despite already knowing several producers, I sought a way to visit those I did not have access to.
And it was from this desire to share part of my knowledge and create opportunities for tourists that we chose some of the dozens of farms in the region to create the route. It is of great wealth that everyone can ‘culturar’ a little of these people and this cheese elected the best in the world,” he says.
After the event ended, Jordane put into practice his desire to highlight the region and created a “Made in Minas Gerais Cheese Route,” a tourist route that allows people to travel through Serra da Canastra more easily and get to know Canastra cheese up close.
The cheese route only includes producers from the municipality of São Roque de Minas, and soon, in implementation, the other municipalities of Bambuí, Delfinópolis, Medeiros, Piumhi, São João Batista do Glória, Tapiraí, and Vargem Bonita.
The project is the result of research work by several people and my passion for gastronomic culture and the work of these people who care for this Minas treasure with so much love and dedication.”
Today the project has become a reality, and thinking about valuing the producers in the region, we decided to create in December 2022, in the heart of Canastra, the first edition of Made in Minas Gerais in Serra da Canastra.
He explains, “We thus created an interactive way for people to move around the region and know where to find what they are looking for. Just select the destination on the project map, check the opening hours. You can also click on the link that opens directly to the navigation of where you want to go. Soon we will have the route in English, French, and Spanish.
Easy to access, along the route, directional signs have been installed containing a QR Code, which from inside the car, tourists can point their phone camera and it will direct them to the cheese route. For more information about the project visit the link: https://www.madeinminasgerais.com.br/rotadoqueijocanastra or on @madeinminasgerais.
Also being planned for May 7, 2023, the third edition will take place at Praça da Savassi, in Belo Horizonte, an event that celebrates the material and immaterial heritage of the state, oriented by the cardinal points, in an area of six thousand square meters on Getúlio Vargas and Cristóvão Colombo avenues.
Each end of the avenues represents a region, with renowned chefs, ingredients, and culture from each region.
Lucky are the people who can “culturar” our essences and roots.
LUCIANO WROTE
Journalist