It's no secret that Melburnians go gooey for brie and crazy for cheddar. The Prahran Market saw record crowds at the Prahran Market Cheese Festival earlier this year, the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival will be running an urban dairy as its festival hub and more of us than ever are doing cheese masterclasses to up our cheese connoisseur points.
But with Cheese Please, Melbourne's cheese obsession is reaching new heights. It's the first-ever consumer event to run alongside the Australian Grand Dairy Awards, which means that festivalgoers will have the chance to sample what is literally the best cheese, yoghurt, milk and butter in the country... if you can get in.
Tickets to the festival are free, but they run on a ballot system, which means that you need to put your name in the ring, stat. You can fill in the form online and will be notified by Monday February 8 if you're successful. The reasoning behind it is to keep crowds at a manageable level; you want to be able to actually reach for your slice of cheddar without your arm being crushed.
Aside from all the cheese, gouda times will also come in the form of local beer and wine, music and food trucks.
Godspeed and good luck. Remember, if you don't get a ticket, you could always embark on a dairy rampage through the city's best cheese shops. Sweet cheese dreams, Melbourne.