I read a piece last month about Highland Fine Cheese’s “Minger,” a cheese they claim is the stinkiest in the world, and I keep thinking about it. It’s a funny piece that hits a couple areas I find interesting, food and marketing. This quote sums it up well:
“I think it was like a throwaway line, because you can’t prove something like that,” he said. “You can’t qualify it. We know it smells, and we know it’s not very nice. But to say it’s the smelliest cheese in the world is a bit of a struggle, but you can’t disprove it. So I suppose we can get away with saying it, and that seems to be what has lit the firework.”
People either love or hate stinky cheese, it’s a polarizing food. But capitalizing on the stench, and naming it Minger, which is slang for someone who is ugly or smells bad, is a perfect combination for grabbing attention. A professor in the article compares it to the act of eating hot chili peppers. There’s a sense of risk and “danger” to the act. It’s a smart move that will hopefully bring more awareness to the small Scottish cheesemakers.