Every year around the holidays, our For You Pages are flooded with all of the seasonal winter markets that open around the country. From Bryant Park in New York to Snowport in Boston, there’s so many holiday pop-ups across the nation that have a variety of vendors. At these markets, you can shop for clothing, buy some art, and even enjoy some delicious food. But this year, people have been talking about the winter markets for a different reason — and it has to do with cheese.
What is the smelly cheese at holiday markets controversy?
It all started as people began making their annual holiday visits to markets like Snowport and Bryant Park. As people did their shopping, checking out all of the unique vendors, they began to notice a certain smell — and it wasn’t a good one. Soon enough, visitors realized that the scent was coming from a single place: the Baked Cheese Haus. That smell that was gracing their nostrils was none other than raclette cheese.
Many visitors thought the smell was so bad that they had to take it to TikTok. Adriana Mikal described the smell as equivalent to “wet dog and belly button” in her TikTok — and all of the comments agreed. One user wrote “People are complaining about the raclette smell in every city.” Another described the scent as a “vile and nasty smell that burns your nostrils.” Some even said that they have been convinced that the fragrant smell at these holiday markets has been due to the cheese for years.
What is raclette cheese?
Baked Cheese Haus, a vendor that has a stand at a variety of winter markets across the country, is the perpetrator of this funky cheese smell. But it’s not entirely their fault — the cheese that they serve, raclette, is known for being smelly. Raclette cheese is a semi-soft cheese made from cow’s milk. It sounds like a pretty standard cheese so far, but there’s one distinct feature. It’s washed-rind, which means it’s moistened with salt-brine multiple times. This makes the raclette cheese an optimal environment for certain bacterias, which gives it its “vile” smell that so many holiday market visitors are smelling.
But don’t let the smell of raclette cheese throw you off — it’s actually really delicious, and the sandwiches from Baked Cheese Haus go viral almost every year. If you can get over the smell of the cheese, the sandwich itself is actually a holiday market favorite. Some people even go to these holiday markets with the sole intention of getting their hands on one of these sandwiches. Hold your nose and enjoy!