Max MacCalman, cheese aficionado, collected anecdotes, images, and techniques to benefit the aspiring aficionado.
Cheese. Medieval monks counted it among the pillars of civilization, along with art, scholarship, and beer. In certain European countries, the sentiment still holds. So leave it to America to spell cheese with a 'z' and spray it from a can. Increasingly, though, stateside gourmets are leaving the shrink-wrapped, Technicolor impostors to grade school lunches, even replacing dessert with velvety Camembert, eye-watering Epoisses, and, let's just say it, to die for Vacherin.
At one end of the spectrum: the fanatics for whom cheese is an extreme food, maggots on your Cabrales, anyone? At the other end: The beginners, who just want one good reason why they should give up that crème brûlée for a plate of something stinkier. Well, reasons to follow.
