A GUIDEPOST REPRINT: “THE SPANISH SCENE: Cheers for the Cheese,” 24 March 1972

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“THE SPANISH SCENE: Cheers for the Cheese”
First published in Guidepost
24 March 1972

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Spain is a land of public praise: it is always ready to pay homage to man, beast or idea through monuments, some of them erected in the most unlikely of shapes, in the most unlikely of places, and to the most unlikely of causes.

Idiazabal cheese marinated overnight in Spanish olive oil, rosemary, garlic, and black pepper

This at any rate seemed to be the case in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa last week when it was announced that a monument commemorating Idiazabal cheese would be built.

Never heard of Idiazabal cheese?   Never mind, neither have most people.   But those who have, including an elite corps of Spanish gourmets, swear by it.

Idiazabal Town Hall

In Idiazabal, of course, the Basque town whose name was given to the cheese, people have been eating it for years.   Family dynasties have risen and fallen, town elections have been won or lost, and enterprising locals have made it big or fallen into disgrace, all on the basis of how well — or how bad — they made their Idiazabal cheese.

Those who’ve sampled the stuff describe it as a kind of shepherd’s cheese made from sheep’s milk.   It is smoked processed, comes wrapped in cabbage leaves for flavor preservation, and is, surprisingly enough, excellent.

Idiazabal Cheese Interpretation Center. (At the time of the reprinting of this article, 5 December 2024, there doesn’t seem to exist a monument to the Idiazabal cheese.)

Until recently, unless you lived in Idiazabal, you were out of it.   Then, a few of the more ambitious makers of the stuff decided to export some of it to other towns within the province for sale at local fairs and fiestas.   Some of it then fell into the hands (or mouth, if you prefer) of a few passing tourists and gourmets, and its reputation as a serious rival to camembert was made.

Now, in recognition of its fledgling contribution to Spanish gastronomy, a monument will be erected at the peak of Echegárate Pass overlooking Idiazabal, locals have announced.

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GUIDEPOST cover, 24 March 1972

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Images from various sources
> Featured image (Guidepost collage): Photographer/ZT_OSCAR, Pixabay. Idiazabal cheese/no machine-readable author provided. Ardo  Beltz claims copyright. CC BY-SA3.0, Wikimedia Commons. Text supplied.
> Marinated Idiazabal cheese/Edsel Little. Recipe from Jose Andres’ book A Taste of Spain in America, CC BY-SA2.0, Flickr
> Idiazabal Town Hall/Zaratenab, CCO, Wikimedia Commons
> Idiazabal Cheese Interpretation Center/Arangoierri, PD, Wikimedia Commons