In a story that has enough twists and turns and heroes and villains to be a Netflix documentary, The Washington Post reports on scandal at the prestigious Good Food Awards. A plant-based blue cheese was selected as a finalist, shocking high-quality artisanal dairy-based cheesemakers who felt it didn’t belong in the competition.

After initially being named a finalist, Climax Blue cheese was later disqualified by the Good Food Foundation, reportedly due to issues around one of the ingredients (kokum butter) not having GRAS certification. But Climax CEO Oliver Zahn accused the foundation of caving to pressure from the dairy cheese industry and changing the rules after the fact to disqualify his product. The foundation denies this, saying it was due to a complaint from someone in the community.

The traditional cheesemaking company is freaking out about Climax Blue, especially because the vegan cheese was so delicious that it had slated to win the overall competition before the Good Food Foundation caved to pressure.

In the end, the dairy industry’s heavy-handed attempts to keep Climax Blue from the spotlight have only served to amplify its rise, proving the old adage that the more you try to censor or suppress something, the more attention you inadvertently bring to it.

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here