Armed With Toothpicks, Knives and Cookie Cutters, Contestants Carve Art Out of Blocks of Cheddar
By Lori Aratani
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The temperature was not optimal yesterday for the seventh annual Invitational Amateur Cheese Carving Contest at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair. It was just a tad too hot. The 2 1/2 -pound blocks of cheese were sweaty; the fine details of the designs -- the kind that really bring cheese carvings to life -- were melting.
Nevertheless, the dozen contestants at the event, sponsored by Pepco and held across from the fair's popular Big Cheese Bar (home of the $2.25 grilled cheese sandwich), found ways to cope. After unwrapping their blocks of cheddar, some attempted to shade the cheese with their bodies. Others fanned the cheese blocks or tried to shield them by covering the chunks with paper towels.
Carvers ranged from teenagers to grandmothers. The more experienced competitors brought sketches and their own tools (toothpicks for detail work, cookie cutters and paring knives), while others made do with the plastic knives provided by the organizers.
They also came with their own strategies.
John Michael St. Angelo, 17, of Germantown, chosen "king" of this year's fair, practiced his design on smaller blocks of cheese before yesterday's event. "If you work on smaller chunks, it makes it easier to do the big blocks because you don't have to be as detailed," he said.
Mary Gallagher, a 55-year-old lactation consultant, was psyched to try to repeat her 2006 win. Her sculpture of an American flag had won the grand prize even though she had had no previous carving experience, cheese or otherwise.
Over the past few weeks, the mother of three from Derwood had pondered several possibilities for her cheese block. Yesterday, she was excited and chatty. She noted that aged cheddar can be difficult to work with because it crumbles more easily than other block cheeses. She was also pleased that contestants would be able to take home all cheese scraps. Just a few minutes before the contest was to begin, she excused herself so she could get ready for the event.
The participants, seated at long tables, were to be given 40 minutes to complete their task.
At the appointed time, Debbie Malone, co-chairwoman of the event, stepped forward.
"Okay, carvers, you can go ahead and unwrap your cheese," Malone said.
The 12 set to work. Some gritted their teeth and inhaled as they tried to cut through the roughly brick-size blocks. Janet Warman of Rockville sketched on her block with a pencil before she began to cut.
For the most part, the spectators were well behaved, though one of the judges reported that an older man had the nerve to reach over and grab a small chunk off a carver's cheese block -- a clear violation of the unspoken rules of cheese-carving conduct.
In general, yesterday was a high point for cheese aficionados at the fair. In addition to the carving contest, the program included the ceremonial cutting of the 550-pound round from northern Wisconsin that by fair tradition is aged in a special location and monitored by cheese handlers.
Martin Svrcek, executive director of the Montgomery County Agricultural Center, said those in the know wait until after the cheese-cutting ceremony to purchase their grilled cheese sandwiches because they know they'll get the specially aged cheddar.
"Fairs have their thing -- chicken wings, ribs. In Montgomery County, we have grilled cheese," Svrcek said.
The carving contest was not without drama.
"This is supposed to be a pig riding on the back of a pickup truck," said a clearly disappointed Warman, 67, after time was called. "But his ear fell off and he melted."
The crowd sympathized with her plight and applauded heartily.
Gallagher's carving spelled "FUN" from one angle and depicted the Bethesda skyline from another. It didn't capture the grand prize, though it did win a first-place citation for being "The Most Representative of the Fair."
The grand prize -- and a tote bag -- went to Gallagher's friend Ellen Zell, 42, of Gaithersburg for her canvas that combined the word "MILK," a grinning sun and the American flag.
But Gallagher was sanguine.
"I do it for the free cheese," she said.
The cheddar sculptures will be on display at the Butter House -- a more temperate setting for cheese sculpture -- until the end of the fair Saturday.
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