Welcome to cheeseplatesf.com where we can talk and explore all things cheese – well maybe just the good stuff *wink*!

I have a confession – for years I would wander into specialty food stores and spy on cheese counters. I would covertly smell and even touch some – but I never bought any. Those cheeses were so exotic. Even the lil’ Baby Bells and Laughing Cow cheeses (or La Vache qui rit) were strange creatures growing up in our Asian household. I always felt a naughty thrill unwrapping them to discover the strange, moist, milky concoction that they held. I was enthralled by cheese early on but it was so forbidden and foreign.

As I got older and experienced different cuisines – I would often hear the faint whisperings of various cheeses “try me, try me…” but I was hesitant, I was scared. What if I ended up with a cheese that tasted like feet?! Because some of them sure smelled like feet – dirty feet!

So, after years of being intimidated by cheese, I decided enough was enough; I took my food destiny by the horns and decided to figure out what was going on with all of those cheeses. I started by reading a ton of books, going to cheese events and tastings, meeting wonderful cheesemongers and makers. I even went so far as to work at a great cheese counter and cheese school! Let me tell you I turned into one very, very cheese – y person!

It wasn’t easy because it seemed like every country had a bazillion cheeses! There are so many things to keep track of –categories, producers, styles, aging, affineurs, wine pairings, cutting, storing, serving – the list goes on and on! No wonder it is so hard to get a handle on these suckers!

But to my surprise, I found that there are a lot of people out there that were just as paralyzed by the vast array of cheese as I was before my personal Cheese Boot Camp. So I wanted this to be a way to demystify and get familiar with artisan cheeses and make that cheese case more approachable.

My goal is to get all you cheese-loving (and hopefully convert some cheese-fearing) people to boldly dive into that cheese case, to order that artisan cheese plate and impress your dinner party guests with your depth of knowledge and variety of taste with one of the most ancient but delicious food staples – wonderful and glorious cheese!