{"id":3397,"date":"2023-09-14T03:13:40","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T03:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/book-review-tenaya-darlingtons-madame-fromages-adventures-in-cheese\/"},"modified":"2023-09-14T03:13:40","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T03:13:40","slug":"book-review-tenaya-darlingtons-madame-fromages-adventures-in-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/book-review-tenaya-darlingtons-madame-fromages-adventures-in-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Tenaya Darlington\u2019s \u201cMadame Fromage\u2019s Adventures in Cheese\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adventures in Cheese cover<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tenaya Darlington\u2019s latest work, Madame Fromage\u2019s Adventures in Cheese, joins other notable cheese manuals such as Erika Kubick\u2019s Cheese Sex Death<\/em> and the late Anne Saxelby\u2019s The New Rules of Cheese<\/em> in presenting an education in fromage through a smart, well-executed gimmick. In this case of this book \u2014 one that literally grabs you by the hand with its whimsically textured cover and invites you along for the ride \u2014 the language of travel becomes an extended metaphor around cheese exploration, whether you\u2019re interested in traveling around Paris to visit every miniature cheese shop, traveling around the Swiss Alps in pursuit of a cow parade, or simply traveling around a beautifully-composed cheese board in the comfort of your own kitchen.<\/p>\n

That Darlington herself is part of Anna Juhl\u2019s Cheese Journeys<\/a> team, which hosts cheese vacations in important dairy destinations, makes her especially poised to deliver a cheese education in this way. With equal parts storytelling, science, and sensuality, Darlington presents a welcome literary addition to the cheese exploration canon.<\/p>\n

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Cheese Adventure Itineraries<\/h2>\n
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Tenaya Darlington credit Lisa Schaffer<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After an introductory section categorized as \u201cDiscovery,\u201d which delves into topics such as cheese history, artisanal versus industrial cheese, and the science of cheese, the body of the book features 8 cheese \u201cadventures\u201d \u2014 deep dives into various important cheese styles with sections in each chapter on \u201cnavigating\u201d pairings, possible \u201cdetours\u201d that suggest other harmonious cheeses of different styles, profiles of quirky curds and shops that are \u201coff-the-beaten-path,\u201d tips for culinary \u201cexploration,\u201d and \u201cfield guides\u201d with various cheese personalities. (Cheese Professor celebrities Mike Geno<\/a>, Betty Koster,<\/a> and Olivia Haver<\/a> are among those featured in these breakout sections.) Several chapters also include \u201cgrate escapes:\u201d tales from Darlington\u2019s own travels with cheese.<\/p>\n

This travel-themed metaphorical language is consistent throughout, (even the acknowledgments detail the \u201codyssey\u201d the book took to come into being,) but Darlington\u2019s approach is so charming and aspirational that it never feels sledgehammered in, and the mechanism is decidedly effective in delivering an engaging cheese education.<\/p>\n

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The Road Less Traveled<\/h2>\n

A departure from her last book, Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese,<\/em><\/a> (see our review<\/a>) Adventures in Cheese doesn\u2019t chronicle a particularly extensive number of cheeses. Each chapter rather focuses on 4 to 5 selections that best illuminate the category \u2014 bloomies, blues, etc. \u2014 with both traditional and contemporary cheeses accounted for. This is number one when it comes to aspects here I found extremely original among cheese books: Darlington offers cheese plates composed entirely of cheeses of a singular style as a means of exploring one category at a time. (As someone who regularly teaches cheese classes, I\u2019m fully borrowing her all-Cheddar lineup as an instructive tool.)<\/p>\n

Darlington also offers several other elements I found unique and much needed. A \u201cfield trip through flavor\u201d is presented in a chapter dedicated to cheeses that are \u201cSmoked, Truffled, Herby, and Spiced,\u201d which are often overlooked by connoisseurs as less serious cheeses, despite their immense popularity among casual cheese consumers. (\u201cThere\u2019s no shame in cheese love,\u201d says Darlington, if you are drawn to pumpkin-spice cheddar.) Page space is also allocated to \u201cFriends with restrictions,\u201d which outlines strategies and information when it comes to navigating vegetarian cheeses, kosher cheeses, and cheeses that are appropriate for pregnant people or those with lactose intolerance. Finally, I found it refreshing that beverage pairings in every section also included spirit, cocktail, and\/or tea recommendations, going beyond the usual suspects of wine, beer, and cider.<\/p>\n

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Madame Fromage with Gouda<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saying Cheese<\/h2>\n

One of Darlington\u2019s biggest strengths when it comes to the challenge of writing about something so ultimately sensory is the creativity of her language when it comes to describing cheese. I said it 3 years ago and I stand by it now: she\u2019s the top curdsmith among cheese writers. My brand new copy of \u201cAdventures in Cheese\u201d became well-loved quickly for the number of pages I dog- eared where I thought some turn of phrase especially clever: \u201ccupcake of stinky suppleness,\u201d \u201cRoquefort-and-roll,\u201d etc. She also has a Patti Smith-like dreamery in her approach, that always feels inclusive and aspirational: even if none of us has a chance to visit some of the places she highlights, she writes as though we were there all along.<\/p>\n

In one section, Darlington describes a new model of Paris fromagerie, one where the mongers come out from behind the counter to interact with customers more closely, putting the cheeses literally within reach rather than behind glass. In effect, this is what Darlington does in \u201cAdventures in Cheese,\u201d taking cheese enthusiasts by the hand and inviting them to explore cheese more closely, through the metaphor of travel.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adventures in Cheese cover Tenaya Darlington\u2019s latest work, Madame Fromage\u2019s Adventures in Cheese, joins other notable cheese manuals such as Erika Kubick\u2019s Cheese Sex Death and the late Anne Saxelby\u2019s The New Rules of Cheese in presenting an education in fromage through a smart, well-executed gimmick. In this case of this book \u2014 one that … Okumaya devam et “Book Review: Tenaya Darlington\u2019s \u201cMadame Fromage\u2019s Adventures in Cheese\u201d”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}