Max McCalman is America's foremost expert on the world's finest cheeses: he created the first European-style cheese program in the country at the restaurant Picholine in New York; he planned the cheese program at Artisanal, the first restaurant devoted to cheese; and he consulted on the opening of the first American cheese center (for distribution, aging, and education), the Artisanal Cheese Center. Max's first book, The Cheese Plate, was about cheese-making and history, about constructing a cheese plate and pairing cheeses. This new book is about a far more universal and accessible subject: the cheeses themselves.

When Workman published the last comprehensive cheese reference, Steve Jenkin's The Cheese Primer in 1996, the fine-cheese revolution in the United States was still on the horizon: Parmesan was available mostly pregrated in green cardboard containers, for example. In the years since, the cheese landscape has changed dramatically: countless restaurants now offer cheese course and plates; fine-cheese counters have sprung up at every gourmet store and in many supermarkets; and the popularity of such diets as Atkins, South Beach, and the Zone have all shifted focus toward eating what cheese offers--fine cheese are among the very best sources of protein.

The time is ripe for an attractive new reference on the subject, and Cheese is the first book to address current readers' real needs: an up-to-date guide to the best--and only the best--cheeses in the world, with strength and quality ratings (like a wine-buying guide), a color photograph of each, authoritative information on the cheese's profile, and the ground breaking contribution of the best wines to serve with every cheese. All wrapped up in a beautiful hardcover, Cheese is the definitive reference on the subject.