Old Retired Guy Blog
April 6, 2008
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Is Happiness Overrated?You've probably seen those ads. You know, the ones where the cows are supposed to be so happy in California. It all looks so blissful -- deep blue skies, thick green grass, warm sunshine. But, have you ever asked yourself, if you were a cow, is that what you'd want? Now, there could be some obvious benefits. Even I can imagine that waking up to a farmer's cold hands in the middle of January could be quite unpleasant. But, hey, farmers all have milk machines now, so that's just udder nonsense. What's the big deal then about happy cows? The implication is, of course, that if the cows are so happy then the dairy products must be wonderful. Is that true? First, a disclaimer: I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin so you might think that I am prejudiced in favor of Wisconsin cows. But, I should point out that I grew up on a hog farm. A hog farm in Wisconsin is quite an anomaly and does not necessarily make one a fan of Wisconsin cows. Also, I have a vast technical background, not a half vast one, so I let the data speak for themselves. Therefore, you can trust my view point and feel confident that it is based on the best available scientific studies. What do the studies show? With all of the commotion about Brett Favre's recent retirement, the start of the new baseball season, the wild March Madness in college basketball, and preparation for the Olympics in China this summer, it's possible that you may have missed this, but Madison was recently the proud host city for the 2008 World Championship Cheese Contest. I'm not sure if it was on ESPN and I know that it didn't make the cover of Sports Illustrated so I thought that I should bring you up to date. With this information you can talk intelligently at your next fashionable cocktail party.
I know that some of you are holding your breath in eager anticipation of finding out who won so, before you pass out, let me mention that the top three overall prizes for the contest all went to European cheese makers.
Good old US of A cheeses did very well in the individual categories. In fact, 151 of the top 232 cheeses in the 77 classes were from the US. You're probably wondering where these US cheeses came from. Who am I to withhold such important information.
So, Wisconsin took home a total of 72 of the top three class awards and California, despite having such happy cows, took home only 13 awards. The next time you hear someone brag about California, be sure to let them know how California cheeses fare when compared to those from America's REAL Dairyland. You know what? I don't think those cows in the California ads are happy; I think maybe they're just stoned. |
Since this was an international event, famous cheese makers from all around
the world entered their best products. There were overall winners as well as
winners in 77 different classes of products. The classes included some of the
better know cheeses like cheddar (there were actually 7 different classes of
cheddars), mozzarella, and Colby along with more exotic kinds like Quesos
Frescos. Some of the category names offered too much information, like
"Camembert and Other Surface (Mold) Ripened Cheeses." There were even classes
for string cheese and pepper flavored cheeses. They really had the world of
cheese covered. 
