Cheese is hot right now. In prestigious restaurants, you not
only choose wine with the help of wine sommeliers, but now you can
often choose your cheese with the help of a cheese sommelier.
And the American Cheese Society just announced they will be
issuing an exam that will entitle someone to call him/herself a
"Certified Cheese Expert." (Check here if you
want details, but be warned - you need 4,000 hours paid
or unpaid work experience in the cheese profession during the past
six years.)
In homage to this notoriety, we thought a recent article from
HuffPostFood was particularly timely. In her article, Cheese Lit: Books for
the Cheese-Obsessed, Kirstin Jackson (Cheese Expert for
the Menuism Cheese
Blog), skips listing guidebooks and tutorials "in
favor of books focusing on odes to cheese, history, politics, and
homages. These guys may be consulted for some general advice, but
they're overall better for cuddling up with for a good read (cat or
dog at feet optional)."
In her post, she describes why the following books have
earned her recommendations:
- Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and Its Place in
Western Civilization, by Paul Kindstet
- The Cheese Room, Patricia Michelson
- The Cheese Chronicles: A Journey Through the Making and
Selling of Cheese in America, From Field to Farm to Table, Liz
Thorpe
- Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge, by Gordon
Edgar
- Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and
the Art of Making Cheese, Brad Kessler
- Swiss Cheese, Dominik Flammer
Once any of these books
makes you hungry, here are some of the books on
cooking with cheese from the EYB library that have created a lot of
buzz.
