This site is my year-long cheese course. I mean that in both senses of the word. By next year I will have sampled at least 365 different cheeses, some old favorites, some brand new to me. It will be a larger selection than any after-dinner cheese course. But it is also a course in the educational sense and I will be as much the student as I hope the instructor.

I decided to start this venture not because I was an expert on cheese and wanted to share my knowledge but because I knew a little and wanted to learn a lot more. Years ago I worked part-time in the deli of a fancy food shop. right next to the cheese department. There I got my first taste of cheeses I had only heard of in the Monty Python Cheese Shop sketch ("Brie, Roquefort, Pont-l'Évêque, Port Salut, Savoyard, Saint-Paulin, Carre-de-L'Est, Bresse-Bleu, Boursin..."). I have many a relative in Wisconsin and grew up eating every kind of factory cheese the state produces (Colby, Pepper Cheese, Onion Cheese, Summer Sausage Cheese, Dill Cheese, cheese curds...). After a while my memories of what was good and what was to be avoided all ran together like fondue on a hot day. I decided to keep a log, for my own memory, of what I liked and what I could live without ever eating again. You are reading the results.

Down the road I will add other entries on all cheesy topics--recipes, reviews of cheese books, info on cheese products and great things to pair with your cheese. Let me get the first 50 cheeses recorded and then I'll expand.

All the best.

Kirk Samuels