Bailing out big cheese prompts pun pandemic

NY Times:

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To be more precise, the Journal wrote that mozzarella makers are “making a stink.” One interesting side note to the coverage of the cheese bailout in the English-language press is that it seems to have inspired a sort of arms race of punning. The Journal’s article came with the headline “Hard Times for Parmigiano Makers Have Italy Ponying Up the Cheddar.” Not to be outdone, the Telegraph’s recounting of the story came with a photo caption advising a man pictured with a wheel of Parmesan to “Say cheese.” The Age, in Australia, went with “Mozzarella makers cheesed off at parmesan bail-out.” The Times of London claimed to see a regional divide in Italy as a result of the policy: “North says hard cheese as parmesan subsidy grates with struggling southern mozzarella makers.”

But no one took things quite so far as the author of a Financial Times editorial who left no pun unturned:

Producers of parmigiano in the Emilia-Romagna region smell the pungent whiff of trouble. With many selling their cheese at below cost, parmigiano makers are facing the prospect of going out of business – some are even using their cheese as collateral against bank loans they are using to pay for workers’ salaries. Now Luca Zaia, the big cheese for agriculture in the Italian government, has intervened, announcing a €50m bail-out for the celebrated formaggio.

The move has already grated producers of other cheese varieties. Makers of buffalo mozzarella, for instance, fear that without dipping into a fondue of government cash they too may fall by the whey-side. The blood of some economic observers has curdled at the thought of the Italian government rescuing any and every industry facing difficulty. Unlike the cheese itself, the case for protecting parmigiano has not been easy for some to digest.

That is not whey over the line.So far, longhorn cheese does not appear to be in trouble. There will also be plenty of chile con ceso for the Christmas tamales.