Madame Fromage

A 5-Day Food Writing Workshop

Readers and writers, just a heads up: I’ll be teaching an abbreviated version of my university-level Food Writing class at the Chesapeake Bay Writers’ Conference in Maryland this summer. Please consider joining me if you want to exercise your palate and pen. During the five days (July 11-15), we’ll meet daily to focus on writing [...]
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A 5-Day Food Writing Workshop
Cheddar’s Little Namesake

Some cheesemongers I know express their lacto love through tattooes. Others name their children after cheeses. If you’ve ever nibbled Montgomery’s Cheddar, a rugged nugget made by Jamie Montgomery of Somerset, England, you might understand why Hunter Fike named his firstborn “James Montgomery,” after the maker. Hunter Fike, who runs the Italian Market Di Bruno [...]
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Cheddar’s Little Namesake
Goat Cheeses of the Moment

I know what you’re thinking. When is Her Ladyship going to get back to the subject of cheese? I know, I know. I’ve gotten a little distracted by camels and classes, and it really is high time I sat down and provided some real dairy direction like the courtesan I promised I would be. Please [...]
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Goat Cheeses of the Moment
Sometimes My Students

In my non-cheese life, I carry cutting boards to work and dream up assignments like the one in the photo above: Record everything you eat for a week, then draw an arrow next to anything processed. This semester, I taught two sections of Food Writing, a class that explores everything from food memoirs and blogs [...]
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Sometimes My Students
Farewell, Paul Lawler

Every city needs a local cheese impresario. In Philadelphia, that person has been Paul Lawler. His bearded mug has been hovering around the Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market for as long as I’ve written this blog (3 years), helping eaters connect to local Bries, blues, and goat cheese. When he finishes his last shift [...]
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Farewell, Paul Lawler

How to Talk to a Cheesemonger

Every week, people tell me that they are too intimidated to shop at cheese counters. Because they feel unschooled in the world of dairy, they buy shrink-wrapped wedges from the cold case, carefully avoiding the eyes of the cheesemonger. As one man told me recently, “It’s like dealing with a sommelier. I feel so inadequate!” [...]

Cheese Board Basics

Readers often email for tips on putting together a cheese board. Here are a few suggestions: Pick a theme. When in doubt, choose a variety of cheeses from different milks – cow, sheep, goat, and if you can find it: water buffalo. You can also put together a cheese board by country (French, Italian, or [...]

On Keeping A Cheese Notebook

“It all comes back,” writes Joan Didion in her famous essay on the subject of writer’s notebooks. It’s true. It does all come back. For almost three years now, I have recorded every nibble, every recommendation overheard at the cheese counter, along with lists of cheeses to try. Bad Axe. Gamonedo. (I have yet to find either.) But [...]

A 5-Day Food Writing Workshop

Cheddar’s Little Namesake

Goat Cheeses of the Moment

Sometimes My Students

Farewell, Paul Lawler