MANIFESTO -

Adopt a Shepherd and a Wild Cheese-

What we fight for!!

Cheese lovers agree that cheeses produced with raw milk are very often organoleptically superior to those produced with pasteurized milk.

Raw milk cheese without added ferments best expresses the territory where it was produced and the skills of the producer.

The microbes naturally present in milk just after milking are numerous, complex and produce more aromatic compounds, furthermore the natural microflora present in the milk is specific to the producer and expresses the history, techniques, territory, people, breeds, climate where the cheeses are produced.

So heat-treating the milk before cheesemaking means killing all of these opportunities.

Raw milk is not the only element that contributes to creating a great cheese, it also requires a good cheesemaker and a good milk rich in aromatic complexity.

It is necessary to graze the animals and feed them with grass, hay, avoiding unifeed, silage and anything else used in industrial dairy farms which aims to increase productivity at the expense of quality.

A cheese produced with no heat treatment, no industrial starters, with natural rennet, with grass fed milk can be defined as Natural Cheeses or as we prefer a Wild Cheeses.

Producing cheeses in respect of the traditions is more complex and risky than produce anonymous pasteurized milk cheeses using help as additives such as calcium chloride, enzymes, antifungals.

Making Natural Cheeses - Wild cheeses is less profitable and more risky, that is why these producers and their wonderful cheeses are disappearing and with them their old traditions and "secrets".

Being a Shepherd often means to be considered at the bottom of the social ladder.

This is not right!

• We are for raw milk cheeses and we are for wild cheeses

• We are for (eventually) use of starters such as whey starters in contrast to industrial starters

• We are for turning noble milk or milk obtained from grazing animals (when possible) and / or fed on hay into cheese.

• We are for transhumance

• We are for protecting of the most authentic traditions

• We are for non-trivial flavors

• We are for the fair remuneration of producers who produce in compliance with natural cycles

• We are for the respect of the shepherds, guardians of the territory and traditions and for their social enhancement.

• We are for variations in taste and characteristics of natural cheese according to the seasons

• We are for the environment protection and for the reduction of greenhouse gases

• We are for animal welfare

What can we do?

We asked ourselves:

what more can we do, in our business, to put into practice what we believe in?

What can we do, in the producer–consumer chain, to create value for the producers we believe in?

What can we do so that these traditions are not lost, and so that industrial cheeses — the dead or dying ones made from industrial milk — win, and traditional production disappears forever?

We said to ourselves:

We must create a virtuous link between the consumer and the Shepherd who shares these values — a link that is not only economic, but above all emotional and moral.

Adopt a Shepherd and a Wild Cheese is our program. It aims to connect the customer with the producer with a thread that is not invisible.

What does Italian Food Hunters do?

At the end of the year, two customers who kept their commitment will be drawn to take part in a trip to Italy. They will visit the adopted Shepherd, his territory and his production, and take part in the making of a SPECIAL EDITION CHEESE in the dairy.

How to Adopt a Shepherd and a Wild cheese?

What are the advantages?

By adopting a Shepherd and a Wild Cheese, you:

undertake to buy a minimum quantity of cheese each year from a Shepherd of your choice, among those selected for respecting the values mentioned above;

undertake to get to know the Shepherd and his cheese, and then to promote them.

During the year we will send you pictures, videos and info to follow the Shepherd's daily activities — like cheese production or the birth of the animals. In short, we will try to make you feel present and close to your adopted Shepherd.

How does it work in practice?

And there is more.

You can go to bed knowing that, through your business, you are saving a local production with centuries of history, that is on its way to disappearing.

You can go to bed knowing that, thanks to your purchases, someone feels proud, supported and motivated to carry on despite all the production and profitability difficulties — being proud is worth more than just money!

It's easy: contact us and you will get more in-depth information about the Shepherd, his cheeses and the area where he lives.

Choose your favorite Shepherd and his cheeses.

You don't have to buy the cheese all at once — just commit to buying an agreed minimum quantity during the year.

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email: info@italianfoodhunters.com

Tel: +39 3357550194