{"id":3248,"date":"2025-08-20T16:24:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T16:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/meet-the-cheesemonger-nicole-pinch\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T16:24:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T16:24:50","slug":"meet-the-cheesemonger-nicole-pinch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/meet-the-cheesemonger-nicole-pinch\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Cheesemonger: Nicole Pinch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Editor\u2019s note: Nicole Pinch is one of the Official Conference Cheesemongers for the American Cheese Society\u2019s 2023 conference in Des Moines. We previously featured the other Official Conference Cheesemongers<\/em> Liz Steeves<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Austin Banach<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nicole Pinch is an Official Conference Cheesemonger for the American Cheese Society\u2019s 2023 conference in Des Moines. She works as the Salumi e Formaggi Manager at Eataly Toronto<\/a>, where she began her cheese career. In between stints at Eataly, Nicole worked as a monger at Whole Foods and earned her CCP certification in 2022.<\/p>\n

How did you start working in cheese?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Nicole

\n

Nicole Pinch<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My first job in cheese was mozzarella maker for Eataly, which is where I now work. I had been working in cosmetics, and in the cosmetics company, we used a lot of food. The idea that we would put 30 kilos of avocado into something just didn\u2019t sit well with me anymore, and I missed working in food. So when I left there, Eataly was opening in Toronto, and they needed a mozz maker. Their recruiter thought if I could make soap, I could probably make cheese.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tell us about some of your favorite cheeses and makers at the moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Wildwood

\n

Wildwood by Stonetown Artisan<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s a cheese called Wildwood <\/a>by Stonetown Artisan<\/a> that comes from two hours outside Toronto. What\u2019s coming in right now is absolutely stunning. It\u2019s an Appenzeller style with a really beautiful rustic look, it\u2019s really herbaceous. It\u2019s aged about 12 months, so it\u2019s still got a really lovely creaminess to it, and it\u2019s just knocking customers\u2019 socks off. It\u2019s perfect right now.<\/p>\n

As for cheesemakers, I think of Andy Hatch at Uplands Cheese<\/a> and Mateo Kehler at Jasper Hill<\/a>. Those two really speak to my values and what I believe cheese and food should be. Mateo reversing the flow of capital from cities into rural areas instead of it going the other way is very cool. He said on a recent podcast that he\u2019s the \u201cchief meaning officer.\u201d So much of working in cheese can be the same every day: you milk the cows, you feed the cows, you rotate the pastures. His job with his staff is to show them the meaning in what they\u2019re doing. I feel the same way about my role as a manager. Andy Hatch\u2019s love for refinement, not redesign, speaks to my heart so greatly. I come from a sports background\u2014I played roller derby for a long time. The idea that you go back to the tapes to see what you did, and you don\u2019t need to necessarily start over or create something new. You\u2019ve just got to tweak what you\u2019re doing until it becomes exactly what you want it to be.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which cheeses do you feel are underappreciated, and why? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Authentic cheeses from Mexico are super underappreciated, because very few people in the United States and Canada have had access to them. If we had more access to authentic Cotija or quesillo, we would refuse what we\u2019re being offered by makers in both Canada and the States. They\u2019re both gorgeous, and they\u2019re so different from what we see on the mass market.<\/p>\n

Which wedge is always in your fridge?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Parmigiano

\n

Parmigiano Reggiano <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I do work for Eataly, so there\u2019s always Parmigiano-Reggiano in my fridge, usually one or two different years or breeds of cows. Gennari <\/a>is really beautiful. Their 48-month wheels are just gorgeous. That\u2019s my luxury go-to. Read more about <\/em>Parmigiano-Reggiano<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>the three original breeds.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the pairing you just can\u2019t get enough of right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Mountainoak

\n

Mountainoak Gouda and Instigator<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve been doing a lot of pairing with a local brewery, Indie Alehouse<\/a>, that has a brewpub in our building. Mountainoak <\/a>three-year Gouda is from Ontario, and it\u2019s just gorgeous. The crystallization in it is stunning, with the caramel notes and the sweetness. We\u2019ve developed a pairing for that with a super hoppy, bitter, citrus-y, piney West Coast IPA called Instigator<\/a>. I\u2019ve continually paired Instigator with different cheeses, and every time, it becomes a different beer. The three-year Gouda brings out all the pine notes that you might not get when you pair it with a Gorgonzola or something.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite thing about working in cheese?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The connections. If you\u2019re mongering, most people come to you in a pretty good mood. They\u2019re usually buying something because they\u2019ve had a good day, or they\u2019re entertaining friends or family and they\u2019re excited about that. Sometimes we\u2019ll get somebody who needs a gift for someone going through bereavement, but there\u2019s always that connection. My job and my staff\u2019s job is to make a connection with that customer, but also to bridge that connection between the producer and the customer and also the food and the customer, and the experience that all creates together.<\/p>\n

What are you most looking forward to as an Official Conference Cheesemonger at ACS this summer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Again, those connections. I\u2019m so excited. And being able to be involved in the presentation of some of the best cheeses. In Canada, we don\u2019t get a lot of American artisan cheese. When I was studying for my CCP exam, there were a lot of trips to Buffalo to get my hands on everything. It\u2019s so exciting to have that access again. And the connections with other mongers. We try to connect, and social media can be amazing for that, but there\u2019s nothing like an in- person connection, which is what I think we\u2019ve learned over the last few years.<\/p>\n

How does it feel to represent Canada at ACS this year?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Eataly

\n

Eataly Toronto<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s very cool. The way I look at it is it\u2019s allowing me to open up the idea that the ACS means more than just America\u2014to my own staff and to customers and to other people in the industry in Canada. I think there\u2019s only like 20-something Certified Cheese Professionals in Canada, and I think there are around 900 total. I love the idea that there\u2019s this world open to us and these opportunities open to us in cheese. Cheese in Canada tends to be a little isolationist. What the American Cheese Society has done is phenomenal with the amount of collaboration and the makers and mongers that all know each other and share information. There\u2019s no sort of protectionism. I\u2019m super stoked to show my staff these other opportunities in cheese, and ACS is a big part of that. In Canada, Kelsie Parsons and Erin Harris are working on the Canadian Cheese Collective<\/a>, which has been around for about a year now, which is really cool. The more of us that can participate in ACS and see how people collaborate, the more we can funnel those experiences into this other really cool thing that can also be a part of the cheese world.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s one of the most important lessons you\u2019ve learned over your cheese career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Patience. Nothing happens overnight in cheese, whether it\u2019s making or importing to helping a customer decide what they need or what will make that experience special for them. And not making assumptions about people\u2019s palates or bank accounts as a monger. You should present cheeses at all price levels as the same. There\u2019s a cheese for everyone.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your cheese industry dream job?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s tough. I\u2019ve been in the role I\u2019m in right now for almost a year. I was at Eataly as a mozz maker, then I moved over to Whole Foods to expand my knowledge of cheese, because we\u2019re very niche at Eataly. If it\u2019s not Italian, it\u2019s local, so for us, that means Ontario and Quebec. Then I came back into this bigger role at Eataly. It goes back to that idea of refinement, and that if you want to do something well, you\u2019ve got to practice and take time, so I feel like I\u2019m still learning. I\u2019m still learning about mongering, category management, buying\u2014all of those things. So right now, that\u2019s my dream job. But because I want to keep learning, I want to do things like attend Cheese Camp. I\u2019d love to spend a Rush Creek season staging or working at Uplands. I\u2019d like to get into a cave at one point.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: Nicole Pinch is one of the Official Conference Cheesemongers for the American Cheese Society\u2019s 2023 conference in Des Moines. We previously featured the other Official Conference Cheesemongers Liz Steeves and Austin Banach. Nicole Pinch is an Official Conference Cheesemonger for the American Cheese Society\u2019s 2023 conference in Des Moines. She works as the … Okumaya devam et “Meet the Cheesemonger: Nicole Pinch”<\/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-3248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}