DeLaurenti Announces 2nd Annual Seattle International Cheese Festival

The 2nd annual Seattle Cheese Festival will be held May 12 - 14, 2006. The festival is dedicated to tasting and celebrating local, national and international artisanal cheese producers.

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) December 24, 2005 -- Cheese lovers and cheese makers will meet for the second time May 12 -14, 2006 during the Seattle Cheese Festival presented by DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine. The two-day event will be held in the famous Pike Place Market featuring a street full of cheeses and cheese producers from around Washington and the globe. The free event will offer the general public and the restaurant trade an opportunity to taste, celebrate and learn more about artisanal cheese.

In addition to an expanded Cheese Concourse and DeLaurenti Wine Garden, the festival will also have the newly introduced Artisanal Alley. The Artisanal Alley will feature a unique offering of small artisanal cheese producers offering tasters a chance to sample cheeses while meeting the individual producers and learning more about the selected cheeses and life on the farm. Both the DeLaurenti Wine Garden and the Artisanal Alley will each have a $5 admission fee.

Local and national cheese experts will be part of the educational seminars offered by advance registration during the festival. Topics will range from “Local Ales and British Cheeses” to “The Cheesemaking Dream (And Reality).” Well-known Seattle chefs will hold cooking demonstrations on how they incorporate cheese into their menus and various dishes, and several Seattle restaurants will feature a “Cheese Fest Best” cheese dish on their menus during the month of the festival. Children will also have the chance to explore the world of cheese by taking part in the scavenger hunt “Cheese Maze” available throughout the festival.

DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine and Pike Place Market will return as sponsors for 2006. To find out more about available sponsorship and showcase opportunities contact Anne Theisen, event manager at (206) 849-7508 or anne@delaurenti.com.

First held in 2005, the Seattle Cheese Festival is a non-profit organization formed to educate the public on artisanal, handcrafted and farmstead cheese and to benefit specialty cheese producers. To learn more about the Seattle Cheese Festival and festival updates visit www.seattlecheesefestival.com.

DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine first presented the Seattle Cheese Festival in May of 2005. DeLaurenti, the most complete specialty food market on the west coast, has provided local and visiting Pike Place Market customers with an exceptional food destination for over 59 years. DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine is located at the corner of 1st & Pike in Seattle and offers an incomparable array of hard to find culinary ingredients, a comprehensive selection of wines from the Northwest and around the world, cured meats from Italy and over 250 varieties of cheese. For more information and hours, please call (206) 622-0141 or visit www.delaurenti.com.

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