European Day of Buffalo Mozzarella

Modern life presents us with a barrage of information. We get RSS updates about everything from news events to showbiz scandals to someone commenting on a Tweet made about the showbiz scandal that was deemed a news event.

With so much going on, it’s a real effort to try and separate what is important from the fluff.

For instance, was anyone really that inspired about the first of February being World Maths Day? Will anyone be interested about the second week of March being Brain Awareness Week? An event like this exemplifies the maelstrom of information with its inherent irony, a week about awareness that a large proportion of people probably won’t know much about.

But is that why we need to have this day? To make people more aware of the necessity to be aware? It’s enough to make anyone a perpetual motion device powered by befuddlement.

Fortunately, there come along days which draw you in and get you excited about the celebration of something unique. And as a food writer, there are some particular foods that I am pleased to see celebrated. One of these is buffalo mozzarella, a unique product from the Campania region in Italy.

Like Parma ham and Melton Mowbray pork pies, it has been given its own Protected Designation of Origin, which preserves the integrity of the product. As part of its promotion, February 24 was the European day of buffalo mozzarella.

The festivities were held in the grand Italian Cultural Institute and featured a live link-up to 26 different cities across Europe, all of whom were joining in the celebration of this unique product. Various technical hitches meant it was a trying process. The seemingly never-ending tour around the continent’s cities rendered the experience the gustatory equivalent of the Eurovision Song Contest. ‘Hello Budapest, this is London calling. Can you tell us how much you like buffalo mozzarella?’

Fortunately, this didn’t last too long and the assembled guests were then invited to try different kinds of mozzarella along with wines from the region.

Buffalo mozzarella is a versatile cheese. It combines well with prosecco with the fizzing bubbles cutting through the elasticity of the cheese. The smoked variety of buffalo mozzarella is best suited to light-bodied reds such as Beaujolais. The smoked variety is a much more complex cheese, with much more character and nuanced flavours.

The morning was a fascinating event as it featured people passionate about food, keen to maintain the integrity of a local product that is enjoyed throughout the world.

The Italian Cultural Institute
39 Belgrave Square
Knightsbridge
SW1X 8NX

Tel: 020 7235 1461