How to Age Cheese: Inside the World of Affineurs
On a cool fall morning in the Alps, an aromatic bouquet of fresh milk and damp stone drifts across the mountains. Deep inside a vaulted cellar, wheels of cheese—each weighing close to 80 pounds—are stacked like golden tomes on wide wooden planks. A man in a white coat pulls a wheel from the shelf and runs his hand along the rind, gently tapping the surface with a small hammer and listening for the soft thud that signals the right moisture within. Around him, thousands of cheeses rest quietly in low light, slowly transforming into something complex, elegant, and alive.
The Best Cheeses of 2026: culture’s Annual List
The ultimate list of cheeses that should stay on your radar all year long Welcome to our Best Cheeses issue—a curated selection of our favorite cheeses around the globe. Featured competitions include the 2025 American Cheese Society Judging & Competition (ACS), the 2025 Good Food Awards (GFA), the 2025 Great Taste Awards (GTA), the 2024 […]
A Chef from Amsterdam Redefines Southern Cooking in Alabama
In Fairhope, Alabama, food and community are inseparable. Along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, a rare early morning phenomenon known as a jubilee brings flounder, crab, and shrimp rushing to the shallows. This spectacle occurs in only two bodies of water in the world: Mobile Bay and Tokyo Bay. In coastal Alabama, neighbors once rang bells and knocked on doors to rouse each other, gathering at the water’s edge to share in the bay’s sudden bounty. That same spirit of resourcefulness and connection can be found at The Hope Farm, a modern and sustainable farm-to-table restaurant that draws from a web of local growing methods to bring fresh food to its tables. Both jubilees and The Hope Farm honor what the land provides and turn it into something worth gathering around, a philosophy mirrored by the restaurant’s newly promoted chef, Emily Ackerman.
What it Takes to be a Competitive Cheesemonger
A conversation with three power mongers on their experiences in the competitive cheesemongering ring Sarah Simiele triumphantly raises the Cheesemonger Invitational trophy after winning the 2023 competition. Photo by Kathryn M. Sheldon. Sarah Simiele, Emilia D’Albero, and Courtney Johnson are competitive cheesemongers. Simiele won the Cheesemonger Invitational (CMI) in 2023. D’Albero won the virtual CMI: […]
American Cheesemongers Win at the Cheesemonger Olympics
Team USA placed first and third at France’s international Mondial du Fromage competition In a first for the United States, two American cheesemongers placed in the international Mondial du Fromage cheesemonger competition, colloquially known as the Cheese Olympics. 2024 culture Hot Lister Emilia D’Albero of Formaticum, a cheese tools company, took home top honors as […]
And the Winner of the 2025 Cheesemonger Invitational Competition Is …
Philly reigns supreme as the 2025 Cheesemonger Invitational competition comes to a close. “Moo. Baa. Maa.” Those are the sounds you’ll hear chanted across a roaring crowd in Brooklyn Steel, a tightly packed warehouse in Brooklyn, New York. You’ll inhale pungent whiffs of delicious cheeses and scan a room chock full of turophiles smiling, clapping, […]
A Fresh Cheese Plate for Spring Featuring American Made Cheeses
AS SPRING APPROACHES, REJUVENATE YOUR CHEESE PLATE WITH THESE BRIGHT PAIRINGS Photographed by Adam Detour | Styled by Kendra Smith As the ground thaws and nature awakens, we naturally gravitate toward food that feels equally light and bright. We start to shy away from slurping warm soups and baking butter-laden comfort dishes and instead reach […]
What Kind Of Cheese Is That? How to identify a cheese style
Repeat after us: brie is not a style of cheese! It’s classified as a “bloomy rind,” and there are all kinds of “brie-like” cheeses across the globe. To cut down confusion when it comes to types of cheese, we’ve crafted a simple chart: TYPEDEFINITIONEXAMPLESBlueThe growth of blue mold on or in cheeses.Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Stilton, or […]
How To Eat Cheese The Right Way
How To Use All of Your Senses When Eating Cheese There have been papers published about the euphoric attributes of cheese and its ability to keep you coming back for more. To teach you how to make the most of your cheese-eating experience, we’ve pulled an article from our Summer 2010 archives, highlighting acclaimed cheese […]
How Does Cheese Get to the Store?
Following the chain of cheese distribution It’s important to know where your favorite cheeses and accompaniments are coming from and what it takes to get them from farm to table. We chatted with Sonia Chandwaney, vice president of sales and marketing at Peterson Cheese, a Seattle-based importer and distributor since 1947, about a cheese’s journey […]











