Cheeseheads unite! Festival returns to Pike Place for 7th year

"A corpse is meat gone bad. Well, and what's cheese? Corpse of milk."

~ James Joyce

If, after digesting that quote, you still have a thing for cheese, by all means, read on.

The Seattle Cheese Festival is this weekend. Cheese makers from all over the world will be coming to Pike Place Market for this festival featuring delicious yellow and white tidbits of tastiness.

This premiere cheese event is an annual destination artisan cheese festival for the general public and the foodservice industry to taste, celebrate and better understand artisan cheese made locally and around the world.

“The Seattle cheese festival is about meeting the producer, meeting the cheese maker,” says Pat McCarthy, owner of DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine.

Among the cheesy events: a fresh mozzarella making demo, a grilled cheese contest, chef demos and wine tastings. There will also be events for children such as a parade of costumes  - and of course plenty of cheese tasting.

KPLU's Brian Reed posted a slideshow from the festival in 2009, showing how to make homemade burrata cheese.

“It is not a packaged product, it just simply isn’t. Cheese is alive. It is living. It changes daily,” McCarthy adds.

The festival is looking for volunteers as well so if you’d like to get your hands cheesy be sure to visit the website for more information. The consumer event will be held along the cobbled street between Pine and Virginia on this Saturday and Sunday (May 14 and 15).