There is hardly a better place to spend a weekend than at the Calgary Farmer’s Market. In the summer of 2022, the second location opened its doors in Greenwich, just across the historic Olympic Park ski jump. Since then, Calgarians have had the opportunity to enjoy local vendors and delicious food regardless of where they are located in the city. One of these vendors is Luc’s European Meats & Cheeses, a one-stop-shop for all things charcuterie, cheese, and artisanal snacks.
With locations in both the West and South Calgary Farmers Markets, Luc’s is a must-visit vendor for their unique selections of cured meats, cheeses, crackers, and more. For as many different products as they carry, the friendly staff of cheese mongers are experts, and they are well-equipped to help you build a charcuterie board that is sure to impress your friends and family for the holidays.
Diversity is a key factor in Luc’s selection, which includes over 100 different cheeses of various origins. This includes Canadian producers to imported cheeses from all over the world, with each one just as unique and delicious as the last. Whether it’s new meat or cheese, Luc’s aims to curate a diverse selection of the world’s most distinct and high-quality produce while bringing it all into one place for Calgarians to experience.
With this passion, it’s only natural that the team behind Luc’s European Meats & Cheeses sets out to inform and educate their customers on the origins of their offerings. With this, they hope to engender a sense of excitement by providing all the context around what goes into each wheel of cheese or slice of charcuterie.
Recently, both the South and West locations hosted a one-of-a-kind virtual reality tour through the Kaltbach Cheese Caves in Switzerland. First, visitors were encouraged to take a seat before being handed a VR headset. The tour commences by first placing you in the middle of a large, cavernous hallway with several racks of ageing cheese wheels organized neatly in rows. Then, you are taken throughout the caves while one of Luc’s cheesemongers acts as an auditory guide, explaining exactly what you are seeing as it appears.
The Kaltbach caves formed naturally over 22 million years ago, and today they are being used to produce some of the tastiest cheeses in Switzerland. The VR tour at Luc’s took participants through the rooms which are used to age the Kaltbach Appenzell and Gruyère. The immersive experience was meant to teach participants about this lengthy and meticulous process, inviting a heightened sense of appreciation for the art of cheese making.
The VR tour culminated with a tasting flight of the Creamy, Appenzell, and Gruyère cheeses which have been imported by Luc’s directly from the Kaltbach Caves of Switzerland. The Creamy selection was rich and nutty while the Gruyère – made with raw cow’s milk – was conversely sharp and tangy with crystals providing a nuanced texture.
After the attendees tasted and listened to an explanation of the cheeses’ characteristics and origins, they were invited to shop at Luc’s European Meats & Cheeses and the over 100 other artisanal products offered by their market.
While the VR tour concluded this past weekend, the Kaltbach cheese selection is still available at Luc’s, and it is strongly recommended that you grab a few blocks while you can. But after all is said and done, don’t be surprised if you end up taking home enough cheese and cured meat to build an entire charcuterie board.
