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Photo by Eric Engman

Rose Jeffries gingerly poked at a plate full of feta chunks with a toothpick Tuesday afternoon during a meeting of the local chapter of Future Farmers of America. She skewered one of the brittle chunks and tentatively sniffed at it a few times, the hunk of cheese hanging precariously off the end of the toothpick a few centimeters from her nose.

The 15-year-old’s reaction to the feta’s distinct odor was violent. Melodramatically gasping for air as if she’d just been punched in the gut, she threw the small bit of cheese away without tasting it.

“I only eat things that smell good,” she said. “It smelled horrible, you know, like rotten milk. It smelled like that.”

Jeffries was one of 20 or so FFA members testing their knowledge of cheeses and milk during the meeting. The students sampled a spread of more than two dozen different varieties of cheeses — everything from American to light havarti — and were tasked with determining which was which based on taste, odor, texture and appearance.

The local FFA members, students from a number of Fairbanks schools including Lathrop, Hutchison, West Valley and Ryan Middle, were practicing for the upcoming state FFA competition. Scheduled for April at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, the event will bring together students from across the state competing in a number of categories including dairy identification.

Lathrop senior Robert Kinnard said he was really looking forward to the dairy competition.

“I love to eat,” he said. “This is my best category. Food is my thing. I love food.”

Kinnard tried several cheeses Tuesday that he had never experienced before, including bleu and brie, both of which he liked.

Teacher Marilyn Krause said she hoped other students also were exploring new foods.

“That’s the best part of this,” she said. “You get to try all sorts of interesting things, some you might like.”

Kinnard didn’t like all of the new cheeses he tried. Gouda, with its yellow rind and nutty sweet flavor, wasn’t exactly his cup of tea.

“I won’t mess with the gouda cheese, never again,” he said.

For 15-year-old Laura Wallis-John, the list of cheeses she didn’t like was nearly as long as Jeffries’, though she did more than sniff the cheeses. She sampled a bit of each, even the ones that didn’t smell to her liking.

“I tried to taste all of them,” she said. “My mom always tells me I ought to try new things.”

A few of the varieties got the better of her, though. A chunk of French brie, with it’s somewhat bitter rind and acidic flavor, was spit into the garbage shortly after touching the 15-year-old’s tongue.

For many of the students, swallowing the cheeses was almost as hard as identifying them. Wallis-John acknowledged she has a bit of studying to do if she’s going to be competitive at the state event.

“I guess I just have to keep on trying the different cheeses,” she said.

Photo by Eric Engman

Luckily for Wallis-John and Jeffries, the FFA is about more than just eating smelly cheese. This is Wallis-John’s second year in the organization and already, she said, being a member has helped her with her public speaking skills.

Jeffries said she really likes the mock job interviews she has participated in at past state FFA conventions.

“It prepares us for when we go out in the real work and do job interviews,” she said.