Italian cheese used to be somewhat of an obscurity—or defined only by its most popular entrants on the international market: Parmesan and mozzarella. Fine cheeses and those produced by local makers were closely held secrets or the domain of established restaurants, says New York City based Chef Carlo Bigi. Shockingly, the Italians—not known to be short on confidence—fell short when it came to cheese.

“Italians have great, unique products, but they have always underrated them relative to other countries,” Chef Bigi said, citing other European success stories—French cheese and wine, Swiss chocolate and even Portugal’s pata negra (an acorn-fed Iberian ham that is a particular delicacy in the Alentejo).