I arrived at 9am to find a very sleepy town that didn't seem to possess enough people to warrant a cheese market, but sure enough, on finding the rather impressive square flanked by the canal and the, there they were, and the market didn't start for another hour, and sure enough again, most weren't Dutch.
The cheeses were already on display and there were plenty of people milling around in traditional Dutch dress, clogs and all.
It's a little hard to describe quite what happened at the market itself as I didn't really understand it! But I shall attempt to describe with the help of photos. From what I could make out, the producers firstly stack their cheeses on the ground in groups according to their characteristics:
Everything then waits until the bell is tolled and the market begins, a bit like the stock market (they even had a 'celebrity' start the proceedings... from a local estate agent family). And everything begins at once. Essentially there are three types of people at work. There are inspectors who go around sampling the cheeses and doubtless making sage like comments while exchanging knowing expressions.
What a fantastic job that is - eating cheese for a living, and you get to eat as much as you want, all in the name of ensuring the cheese is decent. Once they've done their munching they then rate the cheese, whereupon the dealers come and agree a price with the producers via a bizarre system of slapping each others hands until they reach an acceptable value, which unfortunately remains secret from the masses. Although with 23 tonnes of good quality Gouda and Edam cheese on offer, it's going to be some serious money at the end of the day.
Then the fun really starts, and the members of the 400-year old Guild of Cheese Porters spring into action. Their job is to carry the bought cheeses to the scales and then into the waiting carts for delivery. But it's the way they do it that's fantastic.
They semi-run around the market with the tray slung over their shoulders and most either sang little ditties. Apparently, the different colour hats and trays signifies different branches, and usually they remain separate, but as you can see, that wasn't the case when I was there. And that was what was nice, while the whole thing was undoubtedly serious on one level, on another, it was pure entertainment (although I was saddened not to be offered a ride like those lucky kids). You can only take something like this so seriously, but its fantastic that they keep it going, even if it is mainly for tourists.
The whole process continues until the cheese all the cheese has been sold, weighed and delivered when presumably things peter out. I have to confess to not staying until this point as the market started at 10:00 and wasn't due to finish until 12:30 and I had to get going, but I stayed long enough to be one of the fortunate few visited by the inspectors themselves allowing me to indulge in some inspections of my own.
I believe I sampled a 6 week matured Gouda, and very tangy and creamy it was too, so I'd give it a 7/10. There were of course any number of stalls around the market eager to pander to the masses of cheese hungry people, so I further partook of a cheese sample selection consisting of I've no idea what sorts of cheese
Alkmaar itself was a pretty little town, just like a smaller Leiden, and so like Delft, and consequently just like Gouda etc. In fact the thing that really set it apart was the abundance of fondue restaurants. It's another one of those really picturesque Dutch towns with canals that looks like any other (perhaps it did feel just a little sleepier than the others), but oddly I never feel disappointed by that sameness, and I guess that's saying something about the power of this place.
And to think that I managed the whole post without mentioning the word 'cheesey', although Alkmaar's 'official' slogan is "Say cheese, say Alkmaar", which I think is pretty cheesey, but sums everything up rather nicely nonetheless.
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