Sometimes American cheese gets a bad (plastic) rap but there’s a small number of cheesemakers challenging that reputation. There are about 400 craft cheesemakers currently in America, a number that has nearly doubled since 2000. Cultural anthropologist and MIT professor Heather Paxson gives us a glimpse into American artisanal cheese culture in her book, The Life of Cheese: Crafting Food and Value in America.
Paxson became curious about cheese in the early 2000s–she noticed the growing number of artisanal American cheeses carried in cheese shops throughout New York City. Unlike the kind she was used to eating growing up, these cheeses weren’t meant to be served in a sandwich; instead, they resembled European imports, made to be appreciated on their own or with wine and a baguette. Paxson’s interest shifted from that of a consumer to an anthropologist and she began wondering about the producers of this cheese–who were these people changing American cheese from Kraft to craft? What their lives were like? Where did they get their inspiration? How did they acquire their skills?
To find out more, Paxson visited 44 artisanal cheesemakers throughout the US who revealed diverse backgrounds and motivations for learning the craft. Cheesemaking culture has shifted over the years; initially a chore for pioneer wives, a new type of cheesemaker emerged in the 1980s “as an offshoot of the back-to-the-land movement.” Now it is mainly a chosen way of life consisting of generational dairy farmers, young adults skeptical about industrial agriculture, and affluent professionals starting cheesemaking as a second career.
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