{"id":3447,"date":"2023-10-12T03:00:53","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T03:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tenaya-darlington-wants-her-new-book-to-inspire-your-next-cheese-adventure\/"},"modified":"2023-10-12T03:00:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T03:00:53","slug":"tenaya-darlington-wants-her-new-book-to-inspire-your-next-cheese-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/tenaya-darlington-wants-her-new-book-to-inspire-your-next-cheese-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Tenaya Darlington Wants Her New Book to Inspire Your Next Cheese Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n

Tenaya Darlington credit Lisa Schaffer <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tenaya Darlington<\/a>\u2014better known as Madame Fromage<\/a> to cheese fans everywhere\u2014is on a mission to make cheese more accessible. Ever since a life-changing moment in a Philadelphia cheese shop in 2009, she\u2019s documented her flavorful journey through the world of cheese\u2014first as an OG food blogger, then on Instagram, in her newsletter, and in books. Her latest, Madame Fromage\u2019s Adventures in Cheese: How to Explore It, Pair It, and Love It, From the Creamiest Bries to the Funkiest Blues<\/a>, is a colorful, intrepid journey through the world\u2019s iconic cheeses and the people who make them. Read our <\/em>review of it.<\/em><\/a> We caught up with Tenaya to talk about the new book, cheese travel, and what she\u2019s up to next.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are a ton of great cheese books out there. What did you hope to accomplish with Madame Fromage\u2019s Adventures in Cheese?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I started this project in 2018 because the publisher was interested in a cheese book. What I really love to do is take people on adventures, either in person or at the table, and make cheese approachable. I wanted to have profiles of people in the industry, so you meet Sue Miller and follow a day in her cheesemaking life. She was the first person who ever invited me into her little creamery, so I wanted to honor her. I wanted people to meet Betty Koster, someone who runs her own cheese cave and series of shops.<\/p>\n

I also wanted to explore the styles of cheese, because I learned by eating my way through stinky cheeses, spending a summer eating nothing but blues, by gorging on soft-ripened cheeses. I wanted the book to be illustrated because at the time, there weren\u2019t any illustrated cheese books. I wanted it to feel like a big, colorful bedtime story about cheese. Then I put in a whole travel section. I hope this book invites people to be a little bit whimsical in their approach to cheese.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What was it like to work with an illustrator on the book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n

Adventures in Cheese interior<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I had a different illustrator in mind, and we worked together for about three years. Sadly, that didn\u2019t work out due to changes in publishing schedules and designers, because this book took five years. When a new designer came along, she presented me with a few different illustrators, and they were all very scientific, so literal. I said, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing playful. It needs to really feel colorful and vibrant.\u201d And then they sent me some images from Aly Miller, and she\u2019d done maps and illustrations for the Union Square Greenmarket in New York. When I started to see sketches, I thought, wow, she really gets it. We\u2019re working on some other collaborations together, including a fun bandanna that fits into the book. The illustrations reminded me of the covers of the Moosewood Cookbook<\/em> series, which I learned to cook from. I love them. They\u2019re wholesome and playful and a little whimsical.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

You feature some really amazing guest stars from different parts of the cheese world. How did you decide who to include and how to bring their voices into the book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I literally just reached out to people and said, \u201cHey, I want to write a cheese book and I want your voice, can we set up a call?\u201d With each one I decided, is it a Q&A? A profile? I wanted there to be a guide in each chapter who would give voice to some area of cheese passion. One of my favorites was Olivia Haver, who was washing washed rinds and Jasper Hill at the time. She was at home drinking a beer when we chatted, and she told me all about her life playing classical bass and getting married and then leaving her husband to work in the world of cheese. Now she\u2019s in Pennsylvania, and she just won Best in Show at ACS. It was so pleasurable to reconnect with her there and say, \u201cHey, that interview we did five years ago that you probably forgot about is coming out soon!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n

Madame Fromage\u2019s Adventures in Cheese<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Your book has a strong travel theme. You\u2019ve been traveling with Cheese Journeys for years, and now you\u2019re splitting your time between Europe and the U.S. How did those experiences inform the book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once I got into cheese, I got into cheese travel. Anywhere I went, I\u2019d look for the local cheese shop. I started using that as my first stop in any new city or town. When I ask for something local, I\u2019m always impressed by how the cheesemonger will have an immediate recommendation. I\u2019ve even had people say, \u201cLet me call this cheesemaker and set up a visit for you.\u201d It\u2019s really taught me that not only is cheese wonderful at the kitchen table, it\u2019s also a means to unlock new worlds wherever you go.<\/p>\n

I started traveling with Cheese Journeys 10 years ago. Anna Juhl came along and said \u201cI\u2019m passionate about cheese, and I used to own a cheese shop. I want to start this travel company. Will you help me?\u201d For three years, we just worked in trade. For me it was a way to learn about cheese and take fantastic vacations I could never have afforded, and I was able to share photos and write blog posts and do things for her that she couldn\u2019t really manage at that point. I\u2019ve learned so much from her and the way she does business and handles hospitality.<\/p>\n

In the last year or so, a few other cheese travel companies have emerged. I think this shows that people want to explore farms, farm animals, and traditional culture when they travel. That\u2019s a really hopeful sign, because in the States, it\u2019s hard to learn about cheese. You have to hunt for information and become a bit of an adventurer on your own. I hope incorporating cheese into travel is a natural way for people to expand their knowledge and also become part of this fabulous international cheese community.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

You give readers a great introduction to some standout cheeses to try. How did you choose which ones to include?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I tried to give people this canon of cheeses that would help them understand the style, along with some interesting ancillary cheeses. For example, in the soft-ripened cheese chapter, I mention a cheese that\u2019s really not available, but I want people to know about. That\u2019s a Japanese cheese that looks like Mount Fuji. It\u2019s unlikely that 99 percent of the people who read this book would be able to taste that cheese. You never know\u2014someone might go to Tokyo and think, \u201cThere was a Japanese cheese in the book. Let\u2019s see if I can find it in a cheese shop.\u201d<\/p>\n

I want people to know there\u2019s this wide universe of cheeses out there to explore. When I was at ACS, there was this incredible Mexican cheese tasting. If only I had been able to put a few of those cheeses in the book! One of them tasted like passionfruit, and I\u2019ve never had something made from milk that tastes like that. I wish I\u2019d been able to include more non-European cheeses, but so many of them are not available here. The cheese that came for the tasting traveled something like 39 hours by car to come to Des Moines, Iowa from Mexico. It gave me a sense of just how regional these cheeses are, how few makers are out there, and how it would take a really intrepid traveler to go to Mexico and try to connect with makers.<\/p>\n

You run a creative writing program at a university, and you\u2019ve written many books alone and <\/strong>with your brother Andr\u00e9.<\/strong><\/a> You also recently launched a newsletter. What\u2019s your writing practice like right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Right now, I\u2019m more excited to talk and teach rather than be stuck behind a laptop. I turned 50 during the pandemic, and that was a huge wake-up call for me to not just work all the time. I love the work I do\u2014writing, teaching, freelancing\u2014but it comes at a cost. Right now, I have this frozen shoulder and an arm that doesn\u2019t really work. That\u2019s 30 years of writing my brains out seven days a week. I\u2019ve tried to transition away from doing so much at the keyboard. I\u2019ve moved away from longform journalism and blogging into more of a bite-sized writing life.<\/p>\n

Do you have any advice for people in the cheese world who may have the opportunity to write a book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The thing that has helped me the most is a book called Will Write for Food. I use that book every time I sit down to write a proposal. I dream up a table of contents and go from there. It\u2019s also important to think of a book not as a moneymaker. It\u2019s a huge draw on your time and energy to write and promote it. It has to be a book that you\u2019ll feel great about handing to someone. Ask yourself what you feel you have to give to other people who want to love cheese as much as you do, and then give them what you know and what you love.<\/p>\n

Aside from <\/strong>buying your book<\/strong><\/a>, how can people connect with you and follow your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can follow along with my newsletter<\/a>. I\u2019m hosting another Cheese Ball, a big big book party, in Philadelphia on October 21. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s taken me a long time to figure out how to take this book and put it into the world in a way that\u2019s useful. What I\u2019ve settled on is a virtual series of events over the next year to two years. I\u2019m trying to collaborate with entities that are involved in cheese and set up a class with their base. The classes I\u2019m offering will be low-cost, approachable, and affordable. If you have the book, you can join me for a Sunday afternoon<\/a> to taste through stinkers or blue cheeses, and I\u2019ll recommend what people can pick up so that they can support their own cheese shops or cheese counters in their communities.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tenaya Darlington credit Lisa Schaffer Tenaya Darlington\u2014better known as Madame Fromage to cheese fans everywhere\u2014is on a mission to make cheese more accessible. Ever since a life-changing moment in a Philadelphia cheese shop in 2009, she\u2019s documented her flavorful journey through the world of cheese\u2014first as an OG food blogger, then on Instagram, in her … Okumaya devam et “Tenaya Darlington Wants Her New Book to Inspire Your Next Cheese Adventure”<\/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-3447","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\/3447","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=3447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}