Henrik Henriksen

We spoke to Henrik Henriksen before the Cheese WC in Bergen 2018 when he was to be a judge. Here's what he said then.

Henrik Henriksen has a background as a chef and, despite a detour of 13 years as a film producer, found his way back to the profession. In the last five years, he has written regularly about food for a-magazine and other magazines, communicated food culture and politics through lectures and also helped to promote the Taco Republica restaurant in Oslo. So far this year, he has started the more restaurant Ben Reddik in Grunerløkka and is about to open Mangelsgården in Storgata.

- What is it like to be a judge in the World Cheese Championship, one of the most important competitions for cheese in the world? - It is of course an honour. For me, cheese is a kind of symbol of the history of human civilization. It makes cheese incredibly interesting!

- What could be the value of the Cheese Championship being held in Norway? I think it must be that we build up a confidence in making our own cheese. cheeses that do not try to resemble other international sizes. We still have stable farming (!) and grazing in some of the world's cleanest areas and here there are no limits to how good it can be.
- How can we be inspired to taste new Norwegian cheeses? - Again, I think there must be greater and greater investment in distinctive Norwegian cheeses. Producers must be given incentives to take difficult steps that lift the cheeses up: Unpasteurized milk, large volumes, longer storage time, more goat and sheep etc. There is not only potential in quality here, but also bigger and better stories!
- What is your best cheese memory? - Oh, I have so many: queso fundido, melted cheese with chorizo and tortillas on the street in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1986, going cucumber in the counter at Neils Yard In London In 2001; The English make perhaps the best hard cheeses in the world? Having dinner with the Neils Yard folk at Gubbeen in West Cork in 2017; One of Ireland's very best cheese producers and really nice people!. My goodness; baby old man!! White goat cheese fondue with good friends at Lofoten farm dairy in 2015? Manoushe with Shelal on his way home from a nightly party in Beirut in 2016? I could have just continued…
- What is your best serving tip for cheese? - It's an impossible question, it's like asking what is the best side dish for meat; cheese is so much. Having said that, a top quality aged cheese should in the vast majority of cases be served quite alone.