Casu Marzu: Sardinia's Living Cheese
Few foods on the island are as notorious as Casu Marzu – a pecorino deliberately infested with fly larvae to produce an especially soft final product.
How the cheese is made
The starting point is an ordinary Pecorino Sardo. Cheese flies lay their eggs on the cut wheel, and the hatching larvae break down the fat in the cheese, making it extremely creamy. The cheese is typically eaten while the larvae are still active.
A legal grey area
For food safety reasons, the commercial sale of Casu Marzu is banned in the EU. Even so, it continues to be produced privately and passed around informally in rural parts of Sardinia – a tradition that persists despite official regulations.
Putting it in context
Casu Marzu is more of a cultural curiosity than a dish worth actively seeking out – but it shows just how different ideas of "good cheese" can be depending on where you grew up.