Traditional cheeses carry culture across generations

FALLS VILLAGE — Photographer and cheese researcher Babs Perkins gave an unusual presentation at The David M. Hunt Library Saturday, Nov. 15.

There was a slide show, and plenty of information, as per usual.

What made it unusual was the samples of cheese — not just any cheese, but a rare cheese made by a few people in the former Yugoslavia.

“In Search of the Whey: Tracking down a Balkan cheese on the verge of extinction and why it matters to us in Northwest Connecticut” featured photographs taken by Perkins in what she described as “10 years in the field,” tracking down the makers of traditional cheeses in the Balkans.

The cheese in question is called “Sir iz Mijeha.” There are variations on this name, depending on where you are in the Balkans and who you are talking to.

Perkins explained that the countries that make up the former Yugoslavia are defined by religious, ethnic and political divisions that are difficult for outsiders to penetrate.

Economic and demographic forces are combining in the region in such a way that traditional cheeses “are on the verge of extinction.”

When Yugoslavia ceased to function as a Communist federation in 1989, and the country broke into its constituent republics, there followed a 10-year period of civil wars based on ethnic and religious differences.

Perkins said one big problem for the traditional cheese industry is that the civil war period killed a lot of men. She pointed out that women outnumbered men in her photos, and that almost everyone involved was elderly.

The reason the cheeses are going extinct is because of the loss of generational knowledge, teaching and tradition, or “intangible cultural heritage” (as opposed to tangible cultural heritage, such as archaeological sites).

Perkins took the audience through a visual tour, in both video and still photographs, of the cheese being made in stone buildings, with wood-fired stoves, in remote, high-elevation settings.

Then it was time for the taste test. Everybody got a small plate with four pieces of cheese and a couple of pieces of bread as a palate cleanser. A mark in the upper left-hand corner of the plate indicated where to start.

Some of the cheeses were made from cow’s milk, some from sheep’s milk, and some were a combination. Perkins said cows produce much more milk than sheep, so if a cheese maker is aiming at volume, a cow is more efficient.

The taste test was very popular with the audience.

Perkins said that despite the economic and demographic headwinds, there are signs that the traditional cheese industry is making a comeback.

She told the story of one youngish man who left the farm, went to university and earned two master’s degrees, yet could not find a job.

So he returned to the farm to make a go of it.

This is what Perkins is most interested in.

“For me, the intangible cultural heritage is the bedrock of the culture. It’s a tool for social cohesion, community building, peace building.”

How does this translate to Northwest Connecticut?

Perkins said if Connecticut consumers make the effort to find the local farmers who are growing heritage tomatoes (for instance), they will be using the same process of maintaining intangible cultural heritage elements as the Balkan cheese makers.