Bologna Italy ~ Infused with a Taste for the Good Life

Bologna Italy is infused with the feeling that every day is a luxurious adventure. Shop windows and stalls are a constant presentation of delights. Cheese, prosciutto, wine, and pasta feed a vibrating elation of taste and transaction throughout Piazza Maggiore. The zenith, though, of this sensuous verve may be Cafe Gamberini, the oldest bakery in Bologna.

Cafe Pasticcera Gamberini

Seeing a Gamberini display for the first time, a visitor may thrill at the wonder of how such perfection could be produced for ordinary consumption. And then be further astounded the following day by a whole new array of flawless confection.

So to begin this new year with the sweetest of dreams, treat your eyes to this feast of Gamberini creations.  Enjoy 2015!

Cork City Ireland

English Market Main Entrance

Cork City is the culinary capital of Ireland, and anyone who doubts that claim has only to visit The English Market to be converted. Built in response to Cork's economic prosperity in the eighteenth century, it opened on August 1, 1788, and has survived many challenges, including a devastating fire in 1980. Today it is the centerpiece of Cork's thriving culinary economy and a vibrant reminder of its long history in artisan food production.

Quoting from The English Market Website: 

The unrivalled ability of Cork Harbour to shelter the biggest fleets assembled during the American War of Independence and later during the Napoleonic Wars was a major factor in the expansion of the provisions trade in Cork. The Cork Butter Market, with its strict and rigorously enforced system of quality control, was world famous and became the largest butter market in the world for its time.

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The First Quality Control System for Food

Cork Butter ~ Early Export Map

The Cork Butter Museum is another testament to Cork County's centuries old artisan food industry. Illustrated through rooms of detailed displays, the museum pays tribute to the city's strategic contribution in expanding global trade routes soon after Columbus sailed to the Americas. Perhaps its most important and lasting innovation, though, was the establishment of a quality grading system for butter, essentially creating the world's first food quality control system.

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Celebrating the Science of Good Food

UCC Dairy Department Signage

Crowning Cork's reputation for good food is the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences at University College Cork (UCC). In addition to being one of Europe's most respected food science research centers, it is also the oldest dairy science training institution in the world.  It's no surprise then that milk and cheese have such prominence in this UCC video production about 5th century Irish foods.

Copper Cais ~ The Milk of Ireland Ripened in the Heart of Butte

Veronica Steele

In 2010, I took a break from work in the digital world to explore the ancient, multi-sensory realm of artisan cheesemaking.

While employed as a cheesemonger at Cowgirl Creamery in Northern California's Point Reyes Station, I read an article in Culture magazine about County Cork and Irish farmhouse cheesemakers on the Beara Peninsula who make a variety of “washed-rind” cheeses with a distinctive red hued rind. It struck me that the color much resembled that  of smelted red copper which is the economic mainstay of Butte, Montana, where I grew up.

The Irish immigrants who worked in the copper mines of Butte more than a hundred years ago mostly came from County Cork. Thinking it would be wonderful to introduce Butte to this savory variation of copper, I wrote to Veronica Steele of Milleens Cheese in Eyeries, Ireland, and asked about her willingness to teach cheesemaking classes during An Ri Ra 2013, Butte’s annual Irish Festival. Her response opened a whole new understanding for me about the Butte - County Cork connection.

Hi, Cynthia, It would be amazing to go to Butte, Montana to conduct a class. This area of Ireland has huge connections to Butte. It's spoken of as though it were the next village. If you ever get the resources together, I'll be over in a shot! Best wishes, Veronica

Allihies Copper Ends - Butte Copper Begins

 Allihies, Ireland

Everyone with Irish ancestry in Butte grows up hearing about County Cork, but no common mention is made about the bulk of Irish miners coming from Allihies, a small copper-mining village on the southwestern reaches of the Beara Peninsula.

Beara Ancestry Record

Copper mining began in Allihies as early as the Bronze Age. In the Industrial Era of the 1800's, it became a full-scale commercial production.  Then, in the 1870's, the veins began to play out just as the Copper Kings in Butte, half a world away, were getting started.

With enticement from copper barons like Marcus Daly, the exodus of miners from Allihies seemed to take place overnight. Veronica's comment about Butte being "spoken of as though it were the next village" was no exaggeration. This story captured my imagination. Six months later I was seated with Veronica at a table in her house, enjoying Milleens Cheese and learning about the very people I knew while growing up.

Midway through our visit, Veronica and her husband Norman introduced me to volumes of Beara family histories compiled by Riobard O'Dwyer.  Called "My Ancestors (Annals of Beara)", the words "Butte, Montana" echoed through the pages like a supplication. That day, Veronica and I outlined a nascent plan, called the Copper Cais Project. Cais is the Gaelic word for cheese. Given that the most common association to Ireland in Butte is about alcohol, we intended to diversify that bond with the addition of fine food.

The Milk of Ireland Ripened in the Heart of Butte

From Allihies, I went straight to Butte and began laying the foundation for Veronica to conduct cheesemaking and cultural history classes there the next year. As a long-term economic incentive, we also proposed to experiment with using an old Butte copper mine as an aging cave for cheese made in Ireland. Abandoned mines have been used successfully as aging caves throughout the world so this was an achievable dream. In fact, our slogan - The Milk of Ireland Ripened in the Heart of Butte - had the ring of a perfect marketing campaign.

I built a project website, made arrangements for Veronica's classes, and even scouted an old Butte mine shaft as a possible affinage site. Back in Ireland, Veronica researched ways to bring her cheese through customs without fear of confiscation. All was proceeding on target until fate took control of our plan. Less than a year after I met Veronica, she developed Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), a fatal neurological disease. Though we tried to move forward with modifications, it was soon obvious that our vision was no longer possible.

Veronica and I kept in touch over the internet as she survived a few more years. Despite extreme physical and psychological challenge, she remained an active member of her family and community. Cheesemakers from around the world paid ongoing tribute to her.

Of course, I felt deep disappointment at the loss of a new and magical friendship with Veronica whose depth and force of capability created an international legacy, all from a remote farmhouse on an ancient island; and of the opportunity to share her inspiration in the place where I grew up. But the insight to be gained from such turns lies in appreciating the voyage from a wider view.

Locations at the outer reaches of Ireland are served by infrequent public transportation. Most people simply rely on car rides with others. So Veronica and Norman arranged for me to stay overnight in their daughter's house in Allihies before returning to Cork City. (The Steele family, by the way, personifies the kind of relationship that will only be an aspiration for most of us.)

North Star beckons to Allihies

In a small village with no artificial night light, Polaris shone bright above the black horizon of the North Atlantic. It called my attention to the West, and I saw what they once saw, those ancestors who braved their way from Allihies to Butte. The phrase "beacon of hope" will never have a more fitting rendition in my mind.

Now I'm taking this experience to life through animation.  The working title is CopperMind.  Let the stars be my guide.

Allihies Ireland

Entering Allihies

Situated on the extreme western tip of the Beara Peninsula, Allihies takes pride in being the farthest from Dublin of any village in Ireland.  It even celebrates the fact that the Allihies Copper Mining Museum is ‘the most inaccessible museum in Ireland.’ Yet it still keeps vigil, on a daily basis, for relatives who emigrated to Butte more than a century ago.

Sullivan Family Headstone in Allihies

Enveloped by rippling mountains, deep green hills, and the beckoning fingers of its rocky Atlantic coastline,  the streets and structures of Alllihies village are bright and pristine.

Adding an unexpected touch of magic is the sub-tropical vegetation.  Fuchsia, bamboo and, especially, palm trees are everywhere thanks to the warm flow of the Atlantic Gulf Stream. It is a remote, independent, and stunningly beautiful place.

Only the Man Engine House stands as a visual reminder of its hard rock history. Without visiting the Copper Museum, it would be nearly impossible to imagine the tragedy of daily life for those men, women and children who worked the mines in Allihies.

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The Allihies Copper Mining Museum

Allihies Copper Mining Museum Displays

From the Allihies Copper Museum Website

In the mid-nineties a group of Allihies residents came together to discuss how they might preserve and present the local copper mining heritage of this unique area. The idea of Allihies Copper Mine Museum (ACMM) was born and hard work and dedication on the part of the local community brought it to fruition. 

Attended by then-president Mary McAleese, the museum finally opened its doors in May, 2007.

Butte Story

The Museum is housed in an old Methodist church which once served the Cornish miners of Allihies. Now filled with displays and historic artifacts, it is a reverent tribute to those who got little or no recognition while alive. Notable throughout the stories is the mention of Butte, Montana. No wonder it is still thought of, "as a village down the road."

The Ferment [Cheese] Event

Eating wonderful cheese in a museum is nothing new.  Appreciating wonderful cheese as an art form in a museum is totally new.

Ferment [Cheese] at the Berkeley Art Museum celebrated the sight, smell, sound, touch and taste of handmade cheese.  While cowbells lightly chimed, cheese-lovers of all ages happily meandered through a series of tasting and demonstration areas. Milk tasting and appreciation by the Straus Family Creamery provided direct experience in the difference between cow and goat's milk.

Sue Conley ~ Cowgirl Creamery Co-founder  

Beyond the distinctive animal tastes, subtle grass favors, the terrior of the milk, became apparent.  These flavors are then imparted to the cheese.

 From light and creamy to pungent and complex, cheeses of the award-winning Cowgirl Creamery, produced from Straus Family milk, were the centerpiece of the show. At regular intervals, a demonstration of basic cheese production drew enthusiastic crowds. A ten-year-old girl, already in love with the work, attended every one. Culminating the event was Sue Conley, a co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery.

After outlining the heartfelt start of her successful company, she talked at length about the importance of reclaiming and maintaining local economies.  She is an inspiring champion of a humane and sustainable way of life. Cowgirl Creamery Tours take place throughout the summer. Visit their website for more information.   Enjoy!