The cheese calendar
64 markets, fairs, feasts and fasts of the year, with the cheeses each one calls for. Dates are worked out afresh every day; those marked "about" follow the moon or local calendars and can shift by a day.
October 2026
On now, about 11 to 19 Oct 2026Navratri fasting and paneerNine nights of fasting, when many vrat kitchens that set aside grains still allow milk, curd and fresh paneer.
about 17 to 20 Oct 2026Durga Puja and the Bengali sweet shopFour days of pandals in Bengal, when sandesh, rasgulla and other chhena sweets are bought by the box and offered as bhog.November 2026
about 8 Nov 2026Diwali, paneer and chhena sweetsThe festival of lamps, when kalakand, ras malai and a festive paneer curry join the boxes of sweets that pass between homes.
11 Nov 2026Cheese Day in JapanJapan's Cheese Day, chosen in 1992 to recall so, a milk product the imperial court ordered made around the year 700.
12 Nov 2026World Cheese AwardsThe annual world cheese competition, judged in a single day; in 2026 it is held in Córdoba in southern Spain.
about 18 Nov 2026Jagaddhatri Puja in ChandannagarChandannagar's great puja of lights, in the town where the syrup-filled jolbhora sandesh was first made.
26 Nov 2026National Milk Day in IndiaIndia's milk day, on the birthday of Verghese Kurien, whose cooperatives made fresh milk and paneer part of daily life.
26 Nov 2026Thanksgiving and baked macaroni cheeseThe American harvest feast, where a baked dish of macaroni and Cheddar sits beside the turkey on many Southern tables.December 2026
5 to 12 Dec 2026Hanukkah and the cheese of JudithEight nights of lights, when some families fry cheese latkes in memory of Judith, alongside the potato kind.
13 Dec 2026St Lucy's Day and cuccìaOn 13 December, many Sicilians eat no bread or pasta, and instead eat cuccìa, boiled wheat with sweet ricotta.
24 Dec 2026Noche Buena and queso de bolaThe Filipino Christmas Eve feast after midnight Mass, with a red-waxed ball of Edam, the queso de bola, beside the ham.
24 Dec 2026Wigilia, the Polish Christmas EveThe meatless Polish Christmas Eve supper, with pierogi of potato and twaróg, and sernik baked for the holidays.
25 Dec 2026Christmas in Kolkata and Bandel cheeseKolkata's Christmas of lights and plum cake, when the cheese counters of New Market sell smoked Bandel and Kalimpong cheese.
25 Dec 2026Christmas and the Stilton boardThe British Christmas cheeseboard: Stilton with port, Cheddar, and in Yorkshire a slice of Wensleydale with Christmas cake.
February 2027
about 7 to 9 Feb 2027Losar and the Himalayan yak cheesesThe Tibetan and Bhutanese new year, when dried churpi, butter tea and datshi dishes are part of the household feast.
about 8 Feb to 9 Mar 2027Ramadan iftar and suhoorThe month of fasting, when white cheese anchors the pre-dawn meal and cheese-filled pastries come out at iftar.
9 Feb 2027Shrove Tuesday, the last cheese of CarnivalThe last day before Lent, when Naples bakes lasagne di Carnevale with ricotta and Sicily fills cannoli.
10 Feb 2027Ash Wednesday and the Lenten dairy ruleThe first day of Lent, which once banned cheese and butter, and now leans on cheese for its meatless meals.
15 to 17 Feb 2027Basel Fasnacht and the cheese tartThree days of carnival from 4 a.m. on the Monday after Ash Wednesday, kept going by flour soup and cheese tart.
about 19 to 21 Feb 2027Serra da Estrela cheese fair in Celorico da BeiraIn February, Celorico da Beira opens Portugal's season of mountain cheese fairs with its Serra da Estrela market.March 2027
1 Mar 2027St David's Day and CaerphillyWales's national day, with cawl, Welsh rarebit and Glamorgan sausages of Caerphilly cheese and leek.
8 to 14 Mar 2027Maslenitsa, Butter WeekThe last week of dairy before Great Lent, when blini are filled with tvorog and syrniki are fried by the plateful.
8 to 14 Mar 2027Tyrini, Cheesefare WeekThe Greek and Cypriot week of cheese before Lent, with tyropita, cheese pies and macaroni baked with cheese.
about 9 to 11 Mar 2027Eid al-Fitr and kunafaThe feast at the end of Ramadan, when kunafa with melted Nabulsi cheese is cut from great round trays.
9 to 11 Mar 2027U.S. Championship Cheese ContestAmerica's biggest cheese competition, held in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in odd-numbered years.
17 Mar 2027St Patrick's Day and Irish farmhouse cheeseIreland's national day, a good time to taste the farmhouse cheeses that have grown up since the 1970s.
19 Mar 2027St Joseph's Day and ricotta sfinceItaly's feast of St Joseph and Father's Day, with sfince and zeppole filled with sweet ricotta or custard.
21 to 23 Mar 2027Nauryz in the steppeThe spring new year of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, with nauryz kozhe and bowls of salty dried qurut for guests.
21 Mar to 2 Apr 2027Nowruz and nan-o-panirThe Persian new year at the spring equinox, with fresh herbs, flatbread and white cheese on every breakfast spread.
25 to 26 Mar 2027Fanesca for Holy WeekEcuador's Holy Week soup of twelve grains and salt cod, finished with crumbled fresh cheese.
about 26 Mar 2027Alkmaar cheese market season opensThe first Friday of the Alkmaar cheese market, where guild porters carry wheels of Gouda on barrows to the weigh house.
28 Mar 2027Easter, pastiera and cheese breadsEaster in Italy and Poland, with ricotta pastiera from Naples, pecorino crescia from Umbria and twaróg sernik.April 2027
about 1 Apr 2027Gouda cheese market season opensThursday mornings in Gouda, from April to August, when farmers' cheese is traded in front of the 1668 weigh house.
12 Apr 2027National Grilled Cheese DayAn American food day for the grilled cheese sandwich, buttered bread fried around melted cheese until golden.
about 15 Apr 2027Poila Baishakh, the Bengali New YearThe first day of the Bengali year, when traders open new account books and customers are given boxes of sandesh.
about 23 Apr 2027Redyk, the shepherds' season in PodhaleAround St Wojciech's day, Polish highland shepherds bless their flocks and lead them up to the summer pastures.May 2027
about 1 to 3 May 2027Feria Nacional del Queso in TrujilloAround 1 May, the Plaza Mayor of Trujillo in Extremadura fills with Spanish, Portuguese and Italian cheesemakers.
2 May 2027Orthodox Easter, paskha and flaounesEaster in the Orthodox churches, when the fast ends with tvorog paskha in Russia and cheese flaounes in Cyprus.
2 May 2027Fasika, Ethiopian EasterEthiopian Easter, when a fifty-five day fast without meat or dairy ends with doro wat, kitfo and fresh ayib cheese.
about 2 May 2027Sâmbra Oilor, the measuring of the milkIn Romania's Oaș country, flocks are milked and measured before the climb, to share out the summer's cheese.
about 7 to 9 May 2027Feria Nacional del Queso y el VinoTequisquiapan's spring fair of Mexican cheese and Querétaro wine, held in the town since the 1970s.
31 May 2027Cooper's Hill Cheese-RollingOn the spring bank holiday, runners chase a wheel of Double Gloucester down a near-vertical hill in Gloucestershire.June 2027
4 Jun 2027National Cheese DayAn American food day for cheese, marked by cheesemakers, shops and restaurants each year on 4 June.
about 10 Jun 2027Jamai SasthiBengal's day for sons-in-law, who are fed a long lunch that ends with rasgulla, sandesh and other chhena sweets.
11 to 12 Jun 2027Shavuot, the dairy festivalThe festival of the giving of the Torah, when cheesecake, cheese blintzes and bourekas are the custom in many homes.July 2027
about 7 Jul 2027Edam cheese market season opensSummer Wednesdays in Edam, when the round cheeses are brought by boat and cart to the old cheese weigh house.
11 to 13 Jul 2027Naadam and the white foodsMongolia's summer games of wrestling, archery and horse racing, in the season of fermented mare's milk and dried curd.
14 Jul 2027Bastille Day picnic and cheese boardFrance's national day of parades, fireworks and long lunches, when a board of French cheeses is part of the picnic.
14 Jul 2027National Macaroni and Cheese DayAn American food day on 14 July for macaroni and cheese, a dish served at the White House as early as 1802.
about 16 Jul 2027Rasagola DibasaOdisha's rasagola day, on Niladri Bije, when Jagannath offers rasagola to Lakshmi to be let back into the Puri temple.
11 to 13 Jul 2027Naadam and the white foodsMongolia's summer games of wrestling, archery and horse racing, in the season of fermented mare's milk and dried curd.
14 Jul 2027Bastille Day picnic and cheese boardFrance's national day of parades, fireworks and long lunches, when a board of French cheeses is part of the picnic.
14 Jul 2027National Macaroni and Cheese DayAn American food day on 14 July for macaroni and cheese, a dish served at the White House as early as 1802.
about 16 Jul 2027Rasagola DibasaOdisha's rasagola day, on Niladri Bije, when Jagannath offers rasagola to Lakshmi to be let back into the Puri temple.August 2027
1 Aug 2027Swiss National Day farm brunchOn 1 August, farms across Switzerland open for a Buurezmorge, a farmers' breakfast of Zopf, Rösti and cheese.
about 4 Aug 2027Kräftskiva and Västerbotten pieSwedish crayfish parties in August, where a savoury pie of sharp Västerbotten cheese is served beside the crayfish.
about 7 to 8 Aug 2027Foire aux Fromages de LivarotThe first weekend of August in the Pays d'Auge, a cheese fair in the home of Livarot, the cheese with five stripes.
about 17 Aug 2027Raksha Bandhan sweetsSisters tie a rakhi on their brothers' wrists and feed them a sweet, very often kalakand, ras malai or a chhena sweet.
29 Aug 2027Certamen del Queso de CabralesOn the last Sunday of August in Arenas de Cabrales, the best cave-ripened blue of the year is judged and auctioned.
about 4 Aug 2027Kräftskiva and Västerbotten pieSwedish crayfish parties in August, where a savoury pie of sharp Västerbotten cheese is served beside the crayfish.
about 7 to 8 Aug 2027Foire aux Fromages de LivarotThe first weekend of August in the Pays d'Auge, a cheese fair in the home of Livarot, the cheese with five stripes.
about 17 Aug 2027Raksha Bandhan sweetsSisters tie a rakhi on their brothers' wrists and feed them a sweet, very often kalakand, ras malai or a chhena sweet.
29 Aug 2027Certamen del Queso de CabralesOn the last Sunday of August in Arenas de Cabrales, the best cave-ripened blue of the year is judged and auctioned.September 2027
about 5 Sept 2027Fiera del Cacio in PienzaOn the first Sunday of September, the districts of Pienza roll whole pecorino cheeses at a wooden spindle.
about 8 Sept 2027Idiazabal cheese contest in OrdiziaOn the Wednesday of Ordizia's Basque Festival, shepherds' raw-milk Idiazabal is judged and the winner auctioned.
about 10 Sept 2027Mont d'Or season opensThe spruce-boxed winter cheese of the Jura goes on sale in September, in time for the cold months and Christmas.
about 17 to 20 Sept 2027Cheese, the Slow Food festival in BraEvery other September, the Piedmont town of Bra fills with raw-milk cheesemakers from around the world.
about 25 Sept 2027Désalpe, the cattle come downSwiss herders bring their flower-crowned cows down from the alpine pastures, with the summer's cheese following.October 2027
about 2 Oct 2027Almabtrieb in Austria and BavariaLate September to early October, decorated cattle return from the Alm to the valleys of Tyrol, Salzburg and Bavaria.
11 Oct 2027Yom Kippur break-fastAfter the Day of Atonement fast, many Ashkenazi families break the fast with bagels, cream cheese, lox and noodle kugel.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Minas cheese: The original uploader was Hellkt at German Wikipedia . ( Original text, Public domain, source
- Vacherin Mont d'Or: Zubro, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Diwali Paneer And Chhena: Kalli navya, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Durga Puja Sandesh: Subhrajyoti07, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Navratri Vrat Paneer: Gpkp, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Rasagola Dibasa: User:Utcursch , based on images, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Raksha Bandhan Sweets: Suyash.dwivedi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Poila Baishakh: Abidhasan00, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Jagaddhatri Puja Sandesh: শরদিন্দু ভট্টাচার্য্য, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Losar Yak Cheese: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Christmas In Kolkata: Paul Hamilton, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Naadam Dairy: Chongkian, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Japan Cheese Day: en:Nightshadow28, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Nauryz Qurut: Beqery, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nowruz Nan O Panir: Katzenfee50, CC0, source
- Ramadan Iftar Cheese: Gabby Canonizado, CC BY 2.0, source
- Eid Al Fitr Kunafa: Mohammed Tawsif Salam, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Shavuot Dairy: https://www.flickr.com/people/69061470@N05, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hanukkah Cheese: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, source
- Yom Kippur Break Fast: Johann Leusden, Public domain, source
- Maslenitsa Tvorog: Лобачев Владимир, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tyrini Cheesefare Week: Yin Z, Li L, CC BY 3.0, source
- Orthodox Easter Paskha: Mitrius, Public domain, source
- Thanksgiving Mac And Cheese: Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, Public domain, source
- National Cheese Day Us: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- National Grilled Cheese Day: Willis Lam, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Feria Queso Vino Tequisquiapan: Thelmadatter, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Fanesca Holy Week: Agencia de Noticias ANDES, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Coopers Hill Cheese Rolling: Dave Farrance, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- St Davids Day Caerphilly: National Assembly for Wales, CC BY 2.0, source
- Christmas Cheeseboard: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Public domain, source
- Alkmaar Cheese Market Opens: Alf van Beem, CC0, source
- Gouda Cheese Market Opens: ben.fitzgerald on Flickr, CC BY 2.0, source
- Desalpe Switzerland: Caumasee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Almabtrieb Austria: Feel free to use my photos, but please mention me as the author and if, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Redyk Podhale: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sambra Oilor: Hans-Peter.Fuchs, CC BY 3.0, source
- Basel Fasnacht Kaesewaehe: Claude TRUONG-NGOC, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Livarot Cheese Fair: Marianne Casamance, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bastille Day Cheese Board: Chief Petty Officer Michael McNabb, Public domain, source
- Bra Cheese Festival: Davide Papalini, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pienza Fiera Del Cacio: https://www.flickr.com/people/sherseydc/, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Cabrales Cheese Contest: Mick Stephenson mixpix, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ordizia Idiazabal Contest: Euskalduna, CC BY 3.0, source
- Trujillo Cheese Fair: Luis Fermín TURIEL PEREDO, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Celorico Serra Da Estrela Fair: Vitor Oliveira, CC BY 2.5, source
- St Joseph Sfince Ricotta: Guido Reni, Public domain, source
- St Lucy Cuccia: Fredrik Magnusson, CC BY 2.0, source
- Wigilia Twarog: Przykuta, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Shrove Tuesday Carnival Cheese: Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Public domain, source
- Ash Wednesday Lenten Dairy: Oxh973, Public domain, source
- Easter Pastiera Ricotta: Piero della Francesca, Public domain, source
- Crayfish Party Vasterbotten: Holger.Ellgaard, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- World Cheese Awards: Donald Trung Quoc Don (Chữ Hán: 徵國單) - Wikimedia Commons - © CC BY-SA, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Us Championship Cheese Contest: Boston Public Library, Public domain, source
- Green County Cheese Days: SD Dirk, CC BY 2.0, source
- National Mac And Cheese Day: Matt MacGillivray, CC BY 2.0, source