I was having breakfast this morning with one of WeatherVane Creamery’s supporters, Gary (the one who wrote me that nice email in my last blog entry) and he asked me what I got out of the American Cheese Society Conference. Coincidentally, I also need to send off an essay to the American Cheese Society answering that very question. So here is the answer:
I got three main things out of the American Cheese Society Conference: 1.) business connections, 2.) a new understanding of the food safety issues in the cheese industry, and 3.) a basic understanding on how to evaluate and judge cheese. Let me tell you more about these things. I’ll start with the business connections and next time (Part II) I will tell you about the food safety issues (I promise to try to make it a riveting read!) and about the cheese judging another time (part III).
Business connections sound dry and like a bunch of polo-shirted and khaki pants wearing business drones mingling around a water cooler laughing at mildly inappropriate industry laden jokes. And yes, the jokes were present. But this wasn’t like that.
Just weeks before the conference, I met with some folks from the Dairy Business Innovation Center in Madison and they gave me a list of cheese retailers and other industry experts to get in touch with ahead of the conference to set appointments with. The majority of the list said to text them to find a time once we were in Raleigh. I found myself using the conference as a dairy expert scavenger hunt. Once there, I checked off my list one by one and was amazed at how eager and willing people were to get together and give me 30 minutes of their conference time. Both the Dairy Business Innovation Center and the conference opened a lot of doors for me. I was both honored and surprised to find people like Ari Weinzweig from Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Kate Arding, the editor of Culture Magazine who helped establish Cowgirl Creamery in San Francisco and Jeff Jirik, the cheesemaker that founded the Caves of Faribault to be available and excited to learn more about what I am up to with WeatherVane Creamery. In fact, Jeff went out of his way to tell fellow cheesemaker Sid Cook from Carr Valley Cheese that *he* was going to be my mentor and that Sid couldn’t have me!
Aside from the individuals that I met, I went away from the conference impressed at how much of a small, intimate world the cheese industry is. The American Cheese Society fosters a great and generous community. Everyone (for the most part- there are always a few exceptions here and there) was bright eyed and eager to share their stories and hear yours. The camaraderie, even amongst strangers, was unmistakable and inspiring.
Here I am with Jeff Jirik from The Caves of Faribault
With Master Cheesemaker Sid Cook from Carr Valley Cheese
With Ari Weinzweig. In my Outlook Contacts I have him listed as “Super God”