I work at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton, AB and they have a strong culinary arts program that has a basic cheese making section, but now they are in the process of expanding it the Artisanal Cheese Fundamentals Project.
This is from the website
The Artisanal Cheese Fundamentals Project is working to create a Centre for Excellence for the training of artisan cheese makers in Alberta. This project will help meet consumer demand for high quality, locally produced and processed cheese.
Currently, NAIT has a basic cheese-making section in the Culinary Arts program's Garde Manger (cold kitchen) training. The Artisanal Cheese Fundamentals Project will expand on this section by developing a full cheese-making course. The first steps in this process are already underway and include:
* training one instructor in the art of cheese making
* upgrading NAIT's cheese-making equipment
The final year of this 3-year project will see a Continuing Education course in artisanal cheese making offered at NAIT.
Our partners
The Artisanal Cheese Fundamentals Project is a partnership between NAIT's Culinary Arts Program, Alberta Milk and the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA).
Alberta Milk promotes the viability and sustainability of the Alberta dairy industry through programs, policies and services.
ALMA works to help the livestock and meat industry become sustainable, profitable and internationally competitive by focusing on marketing, research and production.
It is in year one, so it looks like I know what I want for my 40th Birthday
Here is the link http://www.nait.ca/55697.htm (http://www.nait.ca/55697.htm)
There was an article in the Edmonton Journal about NAIT and it mentions the upcoming Artisan Cheese Making Course (http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/food/From+field+plate+through+NAIT+SAIT/5750014/story.html).
I also emailed one of the instructors and this is what he said
"The new course should be ready to fly in the next calendar year. This first course will involve the making of fresh cheeses that a person can make and consume immediately. Any courses involving aging cheeses will not be available for some time as we are at the experimental stages of these type of cheeses."
So it sounds like a good start.
I think its a mistake on their behalf to train an instuctor instead of bringing in an expirienced MASTER cheesemaker which knows all the "tricks of the trade" aswell as some of the science behind it.
Hopefully they use the "Chef in Residence" program to bring one in once the course is up and running, but at least they will be offering a course. That is still better than no course at all.