Josie Krogh, Madison Trapkin, Alana Pedalino, Mallory Scyphers, Pamela Vachon for culture: the word on cheese

The Best Cheeses of 2026: culture’s Annual List

Pamela Vachon — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 14:38:19 +0000

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 […]

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I Never Noticed my Grandmother’s Cheese Plates—Until They Became Mine

Pamela Vachon — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 15:56:53 +0000

Pamela Vachon ruminates on a different kind of cheese plate. Growing up, cheese in my family’s Midwestern household usually came in plastic-wrapped blocks, cubes, or slices. The dairy appreciation was strong, but anything bordering on artisanal just didn’t cross my path until adulthood. Even conventional brie or gouda wasn’t anywhere on my radar. I was […]

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How to Pass Down a Cheese Business

Pamela Vachon — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 05:59:00 +0000

Case studies in how retiring dairy pioneers keep their cheese legacy alive A scene from Uplands Cheese’s farm in the Driftless region of Wisconsin. Photographed by Kevin J. Miyazaki. Early pioneers in the American cheese industry—which exploded between the 1980s and 1990s—are reaching retirement age. As with many small businesses, it’s not nearly as simple […]

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Meet Lucy Cufflin, a Founder of London’s Chiswick Cheese Market

Pamela Vachon — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 02:44:38 +0000

Imagine planning a visit to London and learning that there is a monthly outdoor market entirely dedicated to cheese. On a scale from immediately to yesterday, how quickly would you prioritize the pilgrimage?

Taking place monthly on every third Sunday in a London borough named for its cheese, the Chiswick Cheese Market doesn’t just have its finger on the pulse of the British cheese industry—it is the pulse of the British cheese industry.

“I was born loving cheese,” says Lucy Cufflin, one of Chiswick Cheese Market’s founders and a chef and caterer by profession. “I have no idea why ... I think some people just are.”

The Chiswick Cheese Market is a labor of love for Cufflin and the volunteers who operate it. Officially founded in 2021, the market is quickly approaching its fifth anniversary and shows no signs of slowing.

We recently caught up with Cufflin to talk about the importance of providing a forum for the artisan cheese industry, educating consumers about good-quality cheese, and supporting the next generation of cheesemakers.

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Bolle med Ost is Having a Moment: Why “Bun with Cheese” is All the Rage in Denmark

Pamela Vachon — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 18:32:46 +0000

As breakfasts-gone-viral go, perhaps none is so straightforward as Danish “bolle med ost.” Literally translating to “bun with cheese,” bolle med ost keeps no secrets in its accurate, enigmatic name. “It’s a small sourdough bun, sliced, spread with salted butter, and layered with two slices of cheese,” says Chiara Barla, chef, baker, and founder of […]

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culture’s 2025 Annual List of the Best Award-winning Cheeses

Pamela Vachon — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 18:46:01 +0000

At culture, we eat a lot of cheese—funky cheeses, flavored cheeses, ones with bloomy rinds and ones sans rinds, cheeses made of several animal milks, cheeses made from plants, so on. We also attend national and international competitions each year alongside makers and folks in the biz so that we can add award-winning cheeses to […]

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More Than Khachapuri: Explore Georgian Cuisine at this NYC Restaurant

Pamela Vachon — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000

If you’re at all tuned into cheese media, you’ve likely encountered mesmerizing images of khachapuri, a traditional Georgian bread bowl baked with a luscious filling of cheese. Dotted with cubes of butter and an egg yolk and mixed tableside to create molten cheese ribbons, khachapuri “puts on its own show,” says Tamara Chubinidze, owner of Manhattan’s Georgian restaurant Chama Mama. “It’s very Instagrammable.”

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How to Make the Scariest Halloween Cheese Board

Pamela Vachon — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 16:07:48 +0000

Five cheese and movie pairings to send shivers down your spine (in the best way)

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This London Cafe Opened My Eyes to Vegan Cheese

Pamela Vachon — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 14:16:33 +0000

A food writer shares how this vegan cheese shop shifted the paradigm.

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