Cheese Slices

Galicia or 'Green Spain' is well known for the beautiful cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela, but the region's high rainfall and mild maritime climate is also perfect for dairy farming. It's home to a million cows and some of the strangest shaped cheese in Spain, including a breast shaped cheese called Queso Tetilla, and smoked San Simon, which dates back to Celtic times.

The Pacific West Coast of British Columbia has been at the centre of a growing consumer demand for local artisan cheese. Will visits Vancouver before taking a seaplane to beautiful Salt Spring Island to meet the owners of two fascinating small cheese dairies. He then heads east through the breathtaking Rockies to visit a friend who makes farmstead goat cheese.

The city of Lyon is widely recognised as the gastronomic centre of France. Will visits Madame Richard in the new Les Halles market to taste some cheese. Inspired by Paul Bocuse, he then travels to the surrounding wine region to look at the latest traditional goat's milk cheeses. He meets Monsieur Guilloteau, a legendary cheese maker producing some of the most innovative new cheeses in France.

Will follows the ancient shepherds trail known as the Traturro Magno from the mountains of Abruzzo to the plains of Puglia, and discovers the secrets behind the local Pecorino cheese, including a unique example that is coagulated with pig's rennet. After learning all about the local stretched curd cheeses of Molise, he visits a traditional producer of Burrata cheese in the city of Andria.

Will travels to the beautiful Jamtland region in central Sweden, where he looks at traditional cave ripened goat's milk cheese, and learns about an ancient method of preserving 'long milk'. After discovering the world's most expensive cheese made from moose milk, he heads into the mountains to visit the Myhrbodarna dairy and chef Magnus Nillson at Faviken.

Will travels to Seattle in the Pacific North West of the United States to meet the founder of Beecher's famous cheddar cheese in the Pike Street market. After a lesson in how to make the word's best 'mac and cheese' he heads inland to meet some of the state's latest farmstead cheese makers.

The Shaky Isles are home to more cows than people and the cooperative dairy system is the largest commodity dairy exporter in the world. Will visits old friends in Christchurch to learn about the growing number of small artisan cheese makers who make cheese from raw milk, and gets a lesson in how to make Eccles cakes!