“Cheese Days” will be held as part of the “Golden Autumn” festival from September 30 to October 2. The main cheese sites will be the “City Market” (Revolution Square), “Autumn Picnic” (transition from Revolution Square to Manezhnaya Square) and “Bird Harbor” (Manezhnaya Square).
About 60 farmers from more than 20 regions of the country will bring their products here. For half of the producers, participation in the festival will be their debut and a chance to enter the market. In total, more than 50 tons of cheese from 100 different varieties will be presented at the festival.
June
Cheese festival in Kolomna
June 14 to 16, Kolomna
The festival program includes exhibitions, tastings, culinary master classes, and a cheese fair.
There are live concerts on the main stage, and game programs and master classes for children.
The main highlight of the festival is the opportunity to visit the EcoVillage in the village of Parfentyevo.
Cheese festival in Kostroma
June 15 to 16, Kostroma
Guests of the festival have a unique opportunity to try a huge number of varieties of cheese, because more than 90 varieties are already produced in Kostroma alone.
Guests are offered numerous and varied tastings, master classes from the best restaurateurs, concerts, theatrical performances, animation and children's programs, and discover the secrets of signature farm recipes.
Festival opening hours
This weekend VDNKh is hosting the famous cheese festival. The gastronomic festival takes place in pavilion No. 47, “House of Crafts”. Guests of the event will have the opportunity to try a wide variety of this healthy product. Gourmets will be presented with: parmesan, buttery gorgonzola, suluguni, livaro, feta cheese and many others.
The cheese festival will be held from 10:00 to 19:00. Everyone can have fun at the festival without any problems, because entry is free for everyone. Organizers invite visitors to come with the whole family.
For the youngest visitors of the festival, the organizers have prepared a very interesting acquaintance with the alpaca llama. You are allowed to take pictures with the animals, you are allowed to pet them and feed them. Your kids will definitely not forget such an acquaintance.
July
Festival "SYRMARKA"
from July 5 to July 7, agricultural tourist complex “Bogdarnya”
Guests of the festival will get acquainted with the products of famous Russian cheese makers, ride horses, and watch an exhibition of breeding farm animals, as well as equipment.
The festival will feature:
- the best cheeses in Russia,
- dairy and meat products,
- competition "Gastronomic souvenir" of the Vladimir region",
- handicrafts,
- collection of horses of Russian breeds and Russian troikas,
- achievements of livestock breeding,
- cultural, entertainment and educational program.
Festival program.
Festival "Cheese and Gingerbread"
July 6-7, Bebeshkino
The Pskov region hosts a delicious festival “Cheese and Gingerbread”, where the best cheese makers and artisans from different parts of our country and neighboring countries present their products.
At the festival you can taste not only cheeses and gingerbreads, but also meat delicacies, fish treats, berry and honey delicacies and, of course, craft drinks.
Guests are offered master classes on preparing cheese dishes from the best chefs and restaurateurs.
Talented musicians and groups perform their best numbers on stage. Fighting on a beam, jumping in bags, running with a yoke - everyone can take part in family and individual competitions. Children have their own program - a hay labyrinth, communication with animals, creative master classes and fresh air!
Official website of the Cheese and Gingerbread festival
A cheese festival was held at VDNKh
Photo © Sergey Avduevsky / Moscow is changing
Under the warm Moscow sky, the cheeses quickly “opened up” and released all their taste and smell during the tasting. The geography of cheese makers is from Adygea to Moscow, from the Nizhny Novgorod province to the Voronezh black earth region. And although most cheeses have Mediterranean names, they are made in Russia.
Photo © Sergey Avduevsky / Moscow is changing
For example, a farmer from Diveevo, Nizhny Novgorod province, a strong owner with a large bushy beard, Evgeniy produces cheese on his farm. Five sons and a daughter work tirelessly with him. “I’ve been on my feet since half past four,” he says. - You need to work on the farm: several hectares of land, goats, cows - everything requires care and attention. We’ve been making cheese for four years now, mostly goat cheese.” So far, cheese is only a joy, but it doesn’t bring any visible dividends, Evgeniy said. A large peasant farm is enough to live on, but thinking about expanding, for example, a cheese factory, is still out of the question. And when asked why our farm cheeses are so expensive, he reasonably noted that in Europe the state helps farmers with subsidies, while ours are still just waiting for government help.
Photo © Sergey Avduevsky / Moscow is changing
“Well, at least they don’t interfere too much, and that’s good! — a cheesemaker from the Moscow region smoothly enters the conversation. “There can be no talk of any profit now.” For us, cheese, on the one hand, is a matter of life, on the other hand, it is a troublesome hobby that does not bring profit,” he clarifies.
Photo © Sergey Avduevsky / Moscow is changing
“People miss delicious cheese and of course there is a demand for good cheese,” says Olesya Shevchuk, founder of the cheese making school and co-organizer of this festival. - We teach this every week at school. how to make cheese for 10-12 people. Half of them just want to make cheese for the family: have some small farm somewhere near their house, or a farm and cook for themselves.”
Photo © Sergey Avduevsky / Moscow is changing
While Olesya is talking to us, students are gathering in the classroom. I ask one of them. She says that she is a mother of two children and married. My husband and I bought a piece of land near Klin. Then chickens, rabbits and goats appeared. And now at the family council it was decided that you should not only drink the healthiest goat’s milk, but also learn how to make cheese from it. By the way, Muscovites honor goat cheese, a farmer's cheese. So, soon this family will have a certified cheese maker.
Photo © Sergey Avduevsky / Moscow is changing
But, according to Olesya, you will have to study all your life: go to seminars with famous cheese producers, learn the basics and polish your skills in the production of certain types of cheese. She treated us to the most delicate cheese with a beautiful Italian name. It was delicious. Is it true.
Photo © Sergey Avduevsky / Moscow is changing
Olesya herself worked in the IT business for 18 years, traveled a lot around the world, and tasted cheeses. The desire was born to open a cheese factory in Russia. The family supported and even let me work as a cheesemaker in Italy. But while Olesya herself believes that she is not yet ready to work with decent volumes, she also needs to study herself and teach people. So I gave myself two years for theoretical training. For practical use - a cheese factory for one hundred liters of milk. “For now,” he says, “that’s enough. People like cheese and are happy to buy it. And it’s very nice!”
Photo © Sergey Avduevsky / Moscow is changing
Gradually, a taste for eating cheese is developing in Russia. “Russians are very similar to Italians and, just like them, they prefer delicate, soft cheeses with a pronounced milky taste, and only about a fifth like sharp cheeses,” she clarifies.
Photo © Sergey Avduevsky / Moscow is changing
We are, of course, not talking about inexpensive cheese - conventionally, Russian or Kostroma - but about farm-made cheese, the price of which starts from 2.5 thousand rubles. per kilogram. They take it for the holiday. For the sake of some event, good wine. “There is nothing wrong with inexpensive cheeses,” says Olesya Shevchuk. — For example, people came to our fair specifically for the seemingly simple Adyghe cheese. But, believe me, this cheese is made masterfully!”
Photo © Sergey Avduevsky / Moscow is changing
While Olesya was treating us to cheeses, there was a knock on the door: “Olesya, help! Tomorrow I will have 50 liters of goat’s milk, but no starter and rennet.” While Olesya went to get ingredients, we met Alex. He has a house, goats, and a vegetable garden near Moscow. “So I decided that I would study and make cheese. “You know,” says the interlocutor. “I realized that I wanted to change everything radically in life and leave Moscow, sit on the land and do peasant labor.”
Photo © Sergey Avduevsky / Moscow is changing
August
All-Russian Cheese Festival in Istra
from 9 to 11 August, Istra
The festival takes place on the territory of the cheese factory of the famous Oleg Sirota, a great enthusiast of “Russian” Parmesan and a man with amazing will and destiny. A former IT specialist and son-in-law of Russia's first multimillionaire German Sterligov, after the introduction of anti-Russian international sanctions, Oleg Sirota became the leading Old Believer cheese maker in our country. It was he who brewed the first “Russian” parmesan, which surpasses the best imported samples in quality, and even supplied the cheese to the table of the French national team during the World Cup in 2021!
The Cheese Festival will bring together about 200 of the country's best cheese makers, who will present several hundred types of cheese and other dairy products.
Traditionally, the winner of the “Best Cheese of Russia” competition is announced at the festival - this prestigious award is awarded at the Istra Cheese Festival with the participation of foreign cheese makers and cheese-making experts.
You will find delicious master classes on cheese making and preparing a variety of cheese dishes, aromatic cheese tastings and cheese “lotteries” with drawings of valuable prizes, craft fairs with classes in pottery and painting, performances by folk groups, artists and even historical reconstructions with the opportunity to shoot real warriors of the spirit with a bow.
Official group of Oleg Sirota VKontakte.
Open festival-fair “Cheese Village”
August 31 - September 1, Primorsky Cultural Center, St. Petersburg
Farms and private cheese factories will bring the best samples of their products to the area of the village of Lisiy Nos, conduct various tastings and present brie, halloumi, kacciota and many other varieties of home-made cheese from environmentally friendly, domestic products.
As part of the festival-fair, there will be a concert program presented by famous city folk groups, and a children's play area, master classes on cheese making and a photo zone will also be organized!
Free admission!
Official VKontakte page: Open festival-fair “Cheese Village”
September
Union of Cheese Makers of Russia at the Good Moscow Festival
September 9, Moscow
On September 9, on the day of the election of the Mayor of the capital, at polling stations, citizens will be offered to try and purchase various types of cheeses from cheese makers from 20 regions of Russia.
At 105 sites, 50 cheese makers will treat everyone, all those who came to the polls, with 500 types of delicious cheeses, from soft classic cheeses, with noble mold and with herbs to hard, semi-hard and even smoked! Italian, French, German-Swiss recipes, but executed in our Motherland, in Russia, by the hands of domestic cheese makers!
Details at the link.
Festival of Russian cheeses “Syrka-Burka”
September 13-15, 2021, Maxima Park
As part of the international exhibition “Equestrian Russia”, the festival of Russian cheeses “Syrka-Burka” will be held.
The organizers of the festival “Equestrian Russia” took into account the interest of their target audience in unique craft products of domestic production and invited the best cheese producers from all over Russia to participate in the festival.
Among the planned participants of the festival are the most famous market players.
Dozens of varieties of unique handmade cheeses and dairy products, tastings and master classes, special prices and promotions await visitors to Syrki-Burki.
The VII Cheese Festival at VDNKh will delight gourmets with piquant new products and prizes on February 10–11 at VDNKh!
On the weekend of February 10–11, the Crafts Park at VDNKh invites you to the Cheese Festival, where the best craftsmen from all over Russia will come to present classic and unusual varieties of cheese.
Everyone will be able to taste and purchase new farm products, take part in a culinary master class and win a basket of cheeses.
The festival, organized with the support of the Olesya Shevchuk School of Cheese Making, traditionally enjoys great success among visitors and participants. This time, in a warm tent at the House of Crafts, 20 cheese makers from all over Russia will offer guests their favorite classics: Camembert with white mold, mozzarella, Gouda, caciotta and Gorgonzola with blue mold, as well as unusual cheeses - with garlic, paprika and cumin, rare Kabardian, white and smoked Adyghe cheeses, Roquefort, drunken goat and cow cheeses and many others.
For the first time, animals from the VDNKh City Farm will appear at the festival - cows and goats. They will greet visitors at the entrance to the tent at the House of Crafts. You can feed them and take a photo with them as a souvenir.
On the eve of the festival, on February 8 at 19:00, the lecture hall of the “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” pavilion will temporarily turn into a cheese factory, where, as part of the VDNKh Winter Educational Program, a free master class by Olesya Shevchuk on making Italian primo sale cheese with olives will be held. It will not be difficult for participants to master the process, which can be easily repeated at home. Pre-registration is required.
Also, connoisseurs will be able to take part in a drawing for a cheese basket with Valence, cachotta with rosemary, epoisse and langres from the Olesya Shevchuk School of Cheese Making. The results of the competition will be announced on February 11 at 14:00 live from the school’s official Facebook page. The winner will be able to claim the prize on the same day. Terms of participation are available here.
The Cheese Festival in the Crafts Park at VDNH is being held for the seventh time. Only in 2021, the event on the territory of the country's Main Exhibition was held in February, May, July, October, and also in December. In total, about 90,000 people visited the Cheese Festival in 2021.
PLACE: indoor tent at the “House of Crafts” (pavilion No. 47 VDNKh). TIME: February 10 and 11 from 10:00 to 19:00. COST: admission is free.
CONTACTS FOR VDNH GUESTS: Phone Email. email: Email address is protected from spambots. Javascript must be enabled in your browser to view the address.
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Latest developments in the field of digital printing at the Upakovka2018 exhibition!
October
Gastronomic fair “Golden Autumn”
September 28 to October 3, Moscow
At festival sites, regional and interregional fairs, at agricultural markets and in stores in all districts of Moscow, guests will find a wide selection of high-quality farm products - meat, fish, cheeses, vegetables, fruits.
Cheesemakers and cheesemakers from many regions of Russia this year will be presented at seven venues:
- Revolution square;
- Kuznetsky Most;
- Tverskaya Square;
- st. Trade Union;
- Dmitry Donskoy Boulevard;
- Orekhovy Boulevard;
- Yunosti Square in Zelenograd.
Details here.
November
Cheesemakers of Russia on National Unity Day
November 3 to 5, Moscow
On Manezhnaya Square, cheese makers from 20 regions of Russia will treat everyone with various types of cheese. Among the interesting ones are cheeses in linden barrels in hay and rye bran and cheese with sumac and lavender!
Cheese makers from Kaluga, Oryol, Moscow, Tver, Tambov, Sverdlovsk regions, as well as from the cities of Kaliningrad, Tolyatti and Moscow and the Republic of Adygea will present their products.
Details at the link.
What cheeses will Muscovites see at the festival sites?
Guests can try cheeses made from goat's and sheep's milk, including such famous ones as brie, camembert, gorgonzola, mozzarella and burrata. Fresh goat cheeses buch, crotten and aged Tom de Chevre will be brought from the Smolensk region.
Visitors will be offered to choose the best of 10 types of Adyghe cheese, try exclusive cheeses “Comrade Kopiski”, gorgonzola according to a traditional Italian recipe, semi-hard governor’s cheese and hard bergkese from the Moscow region, as well as soft cheeses using old French technology from the Lipetsk village of Maslovki.
Gourmets will also be pleased with homemade delicacies: cheeses in olive oil with sun-dried tomatoes, basil, adjika and dill. And the most unusual dessert will be cheese candies - truffles with hard cheeses and two types of candies with blue cheese.
Today cheeses are the leaders in the Russian dairy market in terms of production volume. Since the beginning of the year, compared to the same period last year, domestic production has increased by 2.2 percent to 395.5 thousand tons. Most of the products are supplied from the Altai Territory, Voronezh, Moscow and Bryansk regions. A new direction for Russia has also emerged - the production of blue cheeses.
According to the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, the share of cheese imports decreased by 14 percent compared to 2015. This contributed to a significant increase in domestic production, which increased by 35.6 percent - from 428.6 thousand tons in 2013 to 581.3 thousand tons in 2015.
