Hordes of British lactose lovers are calling for refunds after a $50-a-head culinary festival apparently failed to deliver on its core promise: an unlimited supply of gourmet cheeses.
Attendees of The Giant Cheese Board, held in south east London, have swamped Twitter and the event’s Facebook page with complaints about long lines, cold mulled wine, and most critically, a fundamental lack of fromages.
Punters claim the event only offered five types of cheese, each of middling quality, alongside store-bought chutney and crackers. Others say the cheeses weren’t adequately labelled, and that other attractions – including cheese-themed sets and entertainment – were a little naff.
Still more have qualms about how the event advertised its cheesecake, with some attendees saying they rocked up also expecting the dessert to be free.
“Waited an hour in the freezing cold with minimal communication to be eventually let into what looked like a fire hazard with far too many people scrabbling for food with their hands,” one attendee wrote on the event’s Facebook page.
“For £38.50 I had NO CHEESE not even in the ball-park of ‘unlimited’. One of the staff has even come on to say how bad it was,” wrote another.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcxEWqIjeZG/?tagged=giantcheeseboard
https://twitter.com/cagilb82/status/942024593610600448
The people struggle for the last scraps of Camembert. The suffering has gone on too long. pic.twitter.com/Qtyd7CBodE
— Tom Capon (@TomCapon) December 16, 2017
https://www.instagram.com/p/BczAyWwFZ7i/?tagged=giantcheeseboard
Cannot overstate how bleak this is pic.twitter.com/9j9uaDS7sD
— Kate Solomon (@katiesol) December 16, 2017
Other attendees did seem to encounter more bounteous supplies of cheese, along with olives and other accoutrements.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BczQC5SBDXp/?tagged=giantcheeseboard
The event’s organisers have taken to Facebook to defend the whole ordeal, hitting back at nearly every claim levelled against the festival, and encouraging punters to roll through for the event’s December 23 outing.
Promoting “the fact that there categorically is unlimited cheese” and claiming there were actually eleven gourmet cheeses on offer, the powers that be are attempting to salvage the reputation of their dairy day out.
Still, the impression given by disgruntled punters can most accurately be summarised by Britain’s two most famous cheese enthusiasts:
