Cheeses come in all shapes and sizes. There are industrial ones and there are artisanal ones. The former are plentiful on supermarket shelves; the latter, which have been lovingly crafted by artisan hands, are fragrant tales of hard work. Stories like that of brothers Joel and Ayoze González, two young men in their twenties who are the brains behind Ayojo Dairy, located in the neighbourhood of Benijos in Orotava. Ayojo is the latest artisanal dairy to open its doors in Tenerife, an establishment that is the offspring, grandson and great-grandson of those small and family-owned cheese factories so popular in the north of the island. Therefore, being a company that inherits the artisanal tradition of the region, demonstrating that entrepreneurship is also possible in the primary sector, being protagonists in the necessary generational shift and, of course, ensuring good cheeses for the next decades, Joel and Ayoze were honoured on Saturday with recognition and best wishes for the future at the inauguration of the Canary Islands Cheese Fair Pinolere 2024.
This is already the thirteenth edition of an annual event that has turned the Pinolere neighbourhood, in the hills of La Orotava, into Tenerife’s cheese capital and a point of reference for all lovers of this diverse product inside and outside the island. Little by little, that modest fair from the early years has managed to climb positions in the socio-cultural agenda beyond what is strictly related to cheese, livestock, and craftsmanship. And as evidence, not only was the Vice President of the Tenerife Island Council, Lope Afonso, and the Regional Government’s Agriculture Minister, Narvay Quintero, present at the inauguration, but also the Chief of the Canary Islands Command, Julio Salom. “It’s the first time that the Armed Forces are here,” explained the Mayor of La Orotava, Francisco Linares. However, what truly demonstrated the fair’s excellent health were the several hundred people already touring the Pinolere Ethnographic Museum and Park just a couple of hours after the venue opened.
The most military cheese event: the Chief of Canary Islands Command didn’t miss the inauguration
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Therefore even though the weather in northern Tenerife was unpleasant throughout the morning, the truth is that nobody, or almost nobody, gave up. If an umbrella is needed, it is taken, and that’s what dozens of visitors did, especially families with young children, who attended the opening of the exhibition of native breeds of the Archipelago at ten-thirty, the first of many events that will take place until 7:00 p.m. today as part of the cheese fair. Because the one in Pinolere, although at first glance it might seem so, is not just an event for adults to taste, enjoy, and buy the best cheeses of the islands – at least not just that – it is also a place of recreation and learning for the little ones at home. Dogs, goats, chickens, sheep, donkeys, bees, pigeons… Even a sturdy Canarian camel. Animals, those that help us in fieldwork or directly provide us with food, are the most important things during these days in Pinolere. After cheeses, of course.
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In the background, overshadowed by the festive atmosphere of the day, was the message, and both institutional representatives and those of the industry itself emphasized that the countryside needs hands and ideas. Entrepreneurship and generational turnover. “The masters of the land and livestock are getting very old, and generational turnover is uncertain,” Linares recalled. Hence the tribute to Joel and Ayoze, who are not only farmers and cheese makers, but above all they are entrepreneurs, a term, Quintero pointed out, that sometimes seems forbidden in the primary sector.
