Say cheese!

Recently, after typing into Google “Why is cheese so expensive in Vancouver?”, the first link that came up astonished me.

http://communities.canada.com/VANCOUVERSUN/blogs/greenman/archive/2010/04/20/thieves-target-high-end-cheese.aspx

The article is from the Vancouver Sun’s Green man, Randy Shore, highlighting the rampant cheese theft in Vancouver. That’s CHEESE theft.

I don’t know why I am astonished really. Coming to live in Canada from the UK 7 years ago, I have always found the price of cheese exorbitant compared to my native land and a recent trip to Trader Joe’s in Bellingham (Washington, US), reiterated my theory that this is a BC only problem.

People are actually stealing cheese from speciality shops and supermarkets alike to sell on the East side of Vancouver. Along with meat and razor blades, cheese is one of the top most stolen products and not solely to feed the thief or their families, but to resell. Such is the value of cheese in this city. But why?

I am on a mission to find out and yesterday I saw rennet for sale at a local cheese shop, so I'm going to have a go making my own. This will require research and a lot of space that I probably don't have, so at least it will be a challenge. Initial research has shown that some cheeses, such as Parmesan type, can be made at home but take 5 months of maturing, whereas others, like Halloumi, only take 2 hours. I have a brilliant cookbook 'Forgotten skills of cooking' by Darina Allen that has some brilliant recipes like paneer, home-made yogurt and cheese, so I will use her recipe for semi-hard cheese.

Just to show you how expensive this culinary gem is here I've included some photos, for any Brits reading, just halve the price and then add a little more for the pound equivalent. So, for example, $10 will be around 6.20pounds.

(Don't forget to look at the weight to see how small these pieces are).

My husband and I are planning an overnight trip down to Bellingham in the US within the next month, not for any recreational or entertainment purpose, but solely to buy cheese. If we stay in the US for 24 hours, Canadian customs will allow us up to $50 of produce to bring back over the border, each. That's a lot of cheese. I'll post some pictures of direct comparisons of price when we get some. Believe me, you will be astonished too.