6 books for cheese lovers

Cheese is hot right now. In prestigious restaurants, you not only choose wine with the help of wine sommeliers, but now you can often choose your cheese with the help of a cheese sommelier.  And the American Cheese Society just announced they will be issuing an exam that will entitle someone to call him/herself a “Certified Cheese Expert.” (Check here if you want details, but be warned – you need 4,000 hours paid or unpaid work experience in the cheese profession during the past six years.)

In homage to this notoriety, we thought a recent article from HuffPostFood was particularly timely. In her article, Cheese Lit: Books for the Cheese-Obsessed, Kirstin Jackson (Cheese Expert for the Menuism Cheese Blog),  skips listing guidebooks and tutorials “in favor of books focusing on odes to cheese, history, politics, and homages. These guys may be consulted for some general advice, but they’re overall better for cuddling up with for a good read (cat or dog at feet optional).”

In her post, she describes why the following books have earned her recommendations:

• Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and Its Place in Western Civilization, by Paul Kindstet
• The Cheese Room, Patricia Michelson
• The Cheese Chronicles: A Journey Through the Making and Selling of Cheese in America, From Field to Farm to Table, Liz Thorpe
• Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge, by Gordon Edgar
• Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese, Brad Kessler
• Swiss Cheese, Dominik Flammer

Once any of these books makes you hungry, here are some of the books on cooking with cheese from the EYB library that have created a lot of buzz.