Reinventing the Wheel: Milk, Microbes, and the Fight for Real Cheese

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I will start off by stating....I AM A CHEESE ADDICT. I CRAVE CHEESE. I LIVE FOR CHEESE. I NEED A 12 STEP GROUP FOR CHEESE. I GET CHRISTMAS AND BIRTHDAY MONEY TO THIS DAY TO "buy myself some (in my mother's words) fancy cheese"! I am also very, very, very lucky to live near amazing cheese stores and a local tourism-based "cheese trail" (which also overlaps with a "butter tart trail"! Reading this book sent me to the farmer's market where I spent waaaaaay too much money on local cheeses. Real cheeses. Not ones wrapped in plastic that don't require refrigeration.

Back to the book --- From the publisher - In little more than a century, industrial practices have altered every aspect of the cheesemaking process, from the bodies of the animals that provide the milk to the microbial strains that ferment it. Reinventing the Wheel explores what has been lost as raw-milk, single-farm cheeses have given way to the juggernaut of factory production. In the process, distinctiveness and healthy rural landscapes have been exchanged for higher yields and monoculture. However, Bronwen and Francis Percival find reason for optimism. Around the world—not just in France, but also in the United States, England, and Australia—enterprising cheesemakers are exploring the techniques of their great-grandparents. At the same time, using sophisticated molecular methods, scientists are upending conventional wisdom about the role of microbes in every part of the world. Their research reveals the resilience and complexity of the indigenous microbial communities that contribute to the flavor and safety of cheese. One experiment at a time, these dynamic scientists, cheesemakers, and dairy farmers are reinventing the wheel.

The detail that the authors went through for their research was astounding and I wish that I had been invited along. Their trips, research, and findings are amazing and make one realize that the stuff that they have been eating from the grocery store IS NOT CHEESE.

That powdered stuff you get for a buck is NOT Parmesan-Reggiano as we should be so lucky to have a piece of a wheel in our homes.

The "vegan cheese" made from tapioca and that cashew cheese (even that from the local artisan)? NOT Cheese. It is a travesty. They should be arrested.

Okay I will get off my high horse (cow? goat? sheep?) The locavore movement is what may save real cheese and the Percivals prove that time and time again in this amazing. book. Not only is it getting the #freakingawesome tag and is already on my Christmas list for my (already groaning) food-related and cookbook shelf!!!

BUY AND READ THIS BOOK.