Familiar Formula from Switzerland Named World’s Best Cheese

In this photo provided by the World Championship Cheese Contest, Roland Sahli, left, CEO of Gourmand AG, holds Gourmino Le Gruyere AOP, which was declared the 2022 World Champion Cheese at the World Championship Cheese Contest on March, 3, 2022 in Madison, Wis. (World Championship Cheese Contest via AP)

Asharq Al Awsat

09:50-4 March 2022 AD ـ 01 Sha’ban 1443 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

09:50-4 March 2022 AD ـ 01 Sha’ban 1443 AH

Familiar Formula from Switzerland Named World’s Best Cheese

A Gruyere from Switzerland was named Thursday as the top cheese for the second consecutive time in the World Championship Cheese Contest in Wisconsin.

The cheese from Bern, Switzerland, made its maker, Michael Spycher of Mountain Dairy Fritzenhaus, a three-time winner. Spycher also won in 2020 and 2008. The cheese, called Gourmino Le Gruyère AOP, earned a score of 98.423 out of 100.

The award-winning product comes from a small dairy working with 12 farmers within a 3 mile (5 kilometers) radius, a Gourmino AG spokesman said. Mountain Dairy Fritzenhaus produces about 85 tons (77 metric tons) of the Gruyere each year out of a total 32000 tons (29,000 metric tons) of the cheese produced annually in Switzerland.

Wisconsin cheesemakers fared well with seven of the 20 finalists and winning 45 best-of-class categories. In addition, cheese curds debuted in this year’s contest and the state swept both the regular and flavored categories.

The largest technical cheese, butter and yogurt competition in the world started Tuesday with 2,978 entries from 29 countries and 33 states. Wisconsin cheesemakers submitted 932 entries.

“Cheesemakers worldwide have always been deeply committed to excellence in their craft,” said John Umhoefer, executive director for the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, which hosts the competition. “That commitment is abundantly clear in the work of this year’s winners."

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivor, Who Devoted His Life for Peace, Dies at 93

Shigemi Fukahori is interviewed at the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on July 29, 2020. (Kyodo News via AP, File)

11:17-5 January 2025 AD ـ 06 Rajab 1446 AH

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivor, Who Devoted His Life for Peace, Dies at 93

Shigemi Fukahori is interviewed at the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on July 29, 2020. (Kyodo News via AP, File)

Shigemi Fukahori, a survivor of the 1945 Nagasaki atomic bombing, who devoted his life to advocating for peace has died. He was 93.

Fukahori died at a hospital in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, on Jan. 3, the Urakami Catholic Church, where he prayed almost daily until last year, said on Sunday. Local media reported he died of old age.

The church, located about 500 meters from ground zero and near the Nagasaki Peace Park, is widely seen as a symbol of hope and peace, as its bell tower and some statues and survived the nuclear bombing.

Fukahori was only 14 when the US dropped the bomb on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killing tens of thousands of people, including his family. That came three days after the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, which killed 140,000 people. Japan surrendered days later, ending World War II and the country's nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.

Fukahori, who worked at a shipyard about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from where the bomb dropped, couldn’t talk about what happened for years, not only because of the painful memories but also how powerless he felt then.

About 15 years ago, he became more outspoken after encountering, during a visit to Spain, a man who experienced the bombing of Guernica in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War when he was also 14 years old. The shared experience helped Fukahori open up.

“On the day the bomb dropped, I heard a voice asking for help. When I walked over and held out my hand, the person’s skin melted. I still remember how that felt,” Fukahori told Japan’s national broadcaster NHK in 2019.

He often addressed students, hoping they take on what he called “the baton of peace,” in reference to his advocacy.

When Pope Francis visited Nagasaki in 2019, Fukahori was the one who handed him a wreath of white flowers. The following year, Fukahori represented the bomb victims at a ceremony, making his “pledge for peace,” saying: “I am determined to send our message to make Nagasaki the final place where an atomic bomb is ever dropped.”

A wake is scheduled for Sunday, and funeral services on Monday at Urakami Church, where his daughter will represent the family.

Familiar Formula from Switzerland Named World’s Best Cheese

Familiar Formula from Switzerland Named World’s Best Cheese

Most Viewed

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivor, Who Devoted His Life for Peace, Dies at 93

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivor, Who Devoted His Life for Peace, Dies at 93

لم تشترك بعد