My first incarnation was as Chef Jeanette; classically trained, hammered into shape by hours of back breaking hot sweaty labour, amid a cacophony of barked commands and the crash-bang of discarded pans. I loved it!! Until I didn’t.
You never stop being a Chef, it changes you at an atomic level, I can still exclude the madness of the world by focusing on the dish my hands are preparing.
Cheese does the same.
There was no “aha!” moment that I can point at to say “That’s it! That’s when I became passionate about cheese!”. I came into it slowly, gathering momentum until I find myself immersed in a world of curds and whey. One day I’m sitting on my mum’s lap, trying the grown-up’s brie, next minute I’m explaining the nuance between cheeses made with early spring milk versus mid-summer milk.
I love that as much as I have already learned about cheese, there is still so much more knowledge to be revealed. These concatenations on cheese are a way of sharing and passing on what I learn, as well as a way to exchange cheese contemplations with other curd nerds.
A morsel of well-made cheese has the ability to transport. “Each sort of cheese reveals a pasture of a different green, under a different sky” Italo Calvino
What a miraculous food, capable of conveying the most mundane eater into the realm of gourmet bon vivant. Capable of metamorphosing from physically and emotionally jaded Chef into exuberant Cheesemonger Jeanette!
I hope you can join me in these musings on cheese.
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