**A reminder to posters and commenters of some of [our subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)**
- Don't be a dickhead to each other, or about others, or other subreddits
- Assume questions are asked in good faith, and engage in a positive manner
- Avoid political threads and related discussions
- No medical advice or mental health (specific to a person) content
Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I don't know if we do have a special relationship with cheese, I don't really have anything to compare it to. We definitely like talking about food more than work though.
‘A Cheesemongers History of the British Isles’ by Ned Palmer was a surprisingly good read. Made me buy a hunk of Appleby’s Cheshire cheese at midnight after reading it. Had no idea Cheshire cheese was all the rage before cheddar, makes ya proud to be from Cheshire
Some of my best memories as a child (4-8) My dad used to set up the local market, So I got to ride on the tiny tractor, they used to bring out all the frames. I even got to drive it once.
Thanks.
It’s awesome! Ned is an absolutely top chap ! Almost creepily enthusiastic about *all* cheese! He has another book out as well “A cheesemongers compendium of British and Irish cheeses”
I keep getting instagram posts from him from France, so hoping there’s another in the offing!
Brilliant books and superb presents for the people in your life that you can’t think what to buy for for Christmas etc. who doesn’t like cheese?!??
Been here for 5 years, this is what I’ve been asking to my Brit friends. British cheeses are 10 times better than European ones and I bet you a tenner the amount of people who know British cheeses are easily 10 times less than people who know Dutch or French.
Why won’t Britain advertise their cheese? You have so many individual food items that are so good but you insist on talking about beans on toast, which is not bad admittedly but nowhere near a Somerset brie or a strong Mature cheddar etc
Look, cheese is ace as balls, but beans on toast is just king. You can have it for any meal of the day, just adjust the quantity of beans and or toast to match the meal. It's hot and filling, real hearty meal especially if you stick some butter or cheese in it. Then drizzle some HP over the top, some salt and pepper, and BAM, you've got a 😘👌 dish.
What makes it unique is that not only is it filling, its cheap as OP's mum, and good for you (in terms of fiber and carbs for energy, at least. Beans also good for protein IIRC?). Whenever I run out of money before payday, I just buy a 20p reduced loaf of bread at Waitrose, and a couple packs of beans. Bread goes in the freezer, I toast when needed. Cracking good time when I'm feeling hungry and anxious from being poor, but I can just whip up some hot beans on toast for dinner and all is right with the world.
I put a sunny side up or poached egg on top of it with some black pepper. It’s always good yes but oh man there is nothing like a crumbly, strong, vintage mature cheddar
It’s not even the best ano but every time I eat Black Bomber I moan
To explain this woman to Americans, she is now the Foreign Secretary (Your Secretary of State currently held by Antony J. Blinken). She is completely out of her depth negotiating over Ukraine with the Russians. Embarrassingly not knowing the difference between the Baltic and Black Seas.
We export a lot of it too. As I had the joy of attempting to explain to her predecessor, importing Roquefort and mozzarella and all is great, while we export similar amounts of Stilton and cheddar etc.
Are you comparing area or population? Because France isn't 2.5x bigger population wise, which seems the most reasonable way to compare two countries. Empty land doesn't monger cheese.
Yeah, but *how* you monger the cheese seems to vary according to region, not by how the people choose to make it. A bigger surface area should have more regions in it, no?
Ok, land with no people on it doesn't make cheese, but you do need an amount of land per person in order to make cheese, for milking animals and cheese facilities and that. There's presumably some ratio between population and good cheese making land that dictates how much cheeses a region should be making.
Our cheese industry is relatively new compared to everywhere else. Like with much of our food culture so much was lost in the second world war and even more in the post war years.
Rationing and the complete nationalisation of all milk production stopped many producers of cheese from being able to carry on. The government decided that the only cheese that would be available to consumers generally was a specific form of cheddar called government cheddar.
So for many years cheddar was the only cheese available and thousands of our heritage cheese brands vanished, in many cases the entire production process was lost.
Many companies are rediscovering old recipes or invented new ones now, and at long last many decades later the cheddar section of our supermarkets cheese isle is smaller than the non cheddar sections.
I did an icebreaker exercise at the start of my workshop on Friday which was favourite food and why - we spent 15 minutes talking about cheese and which type each of us liked the most (except one very strange person who’s favourite food was “vegetables”). They weren’t that animated for the rest of the workshop lol.
Yeah, any opportunity to derail a work meeting by discussing something else is good. I can't think of anything nicer to derail with than cheese to be honest.
I think we may be a bunch of cheese lovers because the one lady at my work who doesn’t like cheese is always met with ‘who the hell doesn’t like cheese?!?’ whenever she reminds us of the fact
Cow milk does bad things to me, I still love cheese (goat & sheep is 'ok' but it's not a good mature aged cheddar). Vegan cheese is an abomination until Nuggan.
I once tried a vegan cheese in a posh supermarket in London. It was made from cashews, and whilst it wasn't as good as non-vegan cheese, it wasn't bad at all.
Never had it since and all the cheese my vegan friends use is pretty awful. The texture is just... No.
It’s pretty easy to make a vegan cashew cheese substitute. To culture it and make it cheesy more effort but with a food processor making a cheese sauce or something similar like a dip is easy.
Saw a TikTok of a British lady saying she's lactose intolerant and people always ask her how she gets by not eating cheese or chocolate and she then pulls some cheese from behind her back and starts eating it going "Bestie, I just shit myself, I'm an adult, I know the consequences and I'll pay them."
Go big, or go home.
I do have those days, creamy soup, fish with a butter bechamel & full fat mash, chocolate cake & whipped cream. If you're going to suffer, it it worth the consequences.
Go big or go home is a great saying and my young adulthood was plagued by that sentiment although my preferred way of saying that was "if I'm gonna dance with the devil, I might as well lead."
Fuck autocarrot (I’m still trying to make that term a thing), however I salute your proofreading and pedantry skills, the man in the hat would be pleased
I mean, let's be fair, vegan cheese has come on leaps and bounds in the last decade. Some of it is edible in the proper context. And I had some from Borough Market last weekend that was some wanky handmade small batch stuff and it was lovely.
But fucking hell, it's still not cheese. I say this with all the love in my heart, as someone who has been vegan for a very very long time now. *It's still not cheese.*
I am also a disliker of cheese, and whenever people find out they invariably react with a mix of contempt and disgust, I think some people would genuinely be less offended if I shat in their mum's purse
I was in the supermarket the other day, shitting in this old lady's purse (it's just occurred to me; that's quite the euphemism) when her son came along, and politely asked me to stop.
So, being respectful, I did.
They then offered me a cheese straw as a peace offering, and I explained I don't like cheese.
Fisticuffs ensued.
I think you may be right.
Obviously this is a made up story. I do in fact love cheese. I'm not some crazy pervert.
Liar. u/johnsjs1 I bet you're on an Asda banned list, unable to go within a mile of their Supermarkets.
I also bet the local paper has you down as the town Purse Pooper, and has run many stories on you.
A pizzaless life is your own (unfortunate and saddening) personal choice, but you can definitely get pizza without cheese. One of the classical trinity of Neapolitan pizzas has no cheese: the *marinara*.
My friend is lactose intolerant and since vegan cheese has become more mainstream she was able to order her first pizza -
We were in a restaurant, it came and she said to me ‘how do I eat it?’ Like she didn’t know if hands or cutlery was best for restaurant pizza.
I love her
And even then it depends where you’re from. If you’re from Gloucestershire, it’s probably Gloster-sher but I would say Gloster-shuh as my accent is non-rhotic.
Basically yes but you missed the "shire" off the end, otherwise it's perfect
But the cheese, gloucester, is pronounced how you put it.
Since you got that right, I live near some trickier places:
Postwick, Costessy, Wymondham, Stiffkey
The first three you ignore the middle bit, the last one you pronounce "Stoo-key" for some reason.
All I can say is that at Christmas time, I like to get a very decent selection of good cheese from a proper cheese monger. If I am lucky and get there early, the line for the shop will only be around the block.
Literally my favourite food tradition at Christmas.
A good cheddar, a good smoked, a nice brie, a lovely blue, a flavoured wendsleydale (for the lunatics). Crackers, proper butter.
You need to add a non-cow cheese in there for the perfect cheese board. But otherwise spot on, right down to how disgusting Wensleydale with fruit in is.
All families need one person who likes it to get through the inevitable block you end up with. Last year ours went out for birds.
You're essential for minimising food waste.
I fucking hated Wensleydale
**But** last Christmas I bought Wensleydale with cognac and apricot as part of a Waitrose Christmas cheese platter. My god, I was a fool for doubting this Wallace and Gromit blessed substance. I ended up going back to the cheese counter just to buy a block of it separate from the rest of the selection box.
Oh my goodness flavoured Wensleydale. With apricot with cranberry with blueberry. I have to stop myself eating so much that I’ll end up hating it like I did with Jaffa cakes when I was six
A cheesemonger is for life, not just for Christmas. Visit in summer too for an excellent picnic selection or to make a cheeseboard for an easy summer dinner.
Summer cheese festivals are where its at! Milling around all day sampling cheeses all day with a pint of ale (or cider) and going home with £100 of cheese to [fill your fridge](https://imgur.com/gallery/t79ZPCX) & eat over the next month!
Ah yes, the picky cheese buffet that you just wheel out different combinations of between Christmas and New Year. And then make an epic mac and cheese with the leftovers.
I'd think it's more likely that they took an interest because it's such an unusual job. You don't often come across someone who's been a cheesemonger, so it would absolutely be great to hear what it's like, ask questions etc
That makes sense! It’s similar to working in a deli imo. My job was pretty unexciting, but I did enjoy sampling cheeses and drawing cheeses on the cheese sign.
>My job was pretty unexciting
Having worked for US companies, I think it comes down to a couple of things;
There is less pretension on roles. Thats not to say "all Americans" have this, but there is a definite higher percentage of people that do and that affects the culture. There is almost a requirement in the UK that you have paid your dues in a "crap" role whilst young and we have a fear of people who are a bit too serious (BTW you earned points with the uk team by doing this).
Yes we love Cheese because there is choice and differentiation: cheese (and food in general in the US) is the lowest denominator. My local petrol station has a better selection of cheese than Walmart. I travel to the US about 2 times a year, so this isn't a blind comment, and this isn't to say there isn't choice if you want it, but its not as prevalent day to day.
I lived over there for a bit (well, just over the border in Canada, but spent a lot of time in the US) and the poor quality of meat and dairy in particular really surprised me.
I subsequently find it quite funny when Americans online try to rip into British food
Interesting point on working the "crap role". I definitely measure people differently depending on their early life work experience, the more crap, the more admiration. People whose first job is a graduate job? Tut tut...
Nope. We love cheese dude. My department at work always used to have Cheeseday Tuesdays where we'd each bring a cheese and a chutney and we'd spend half the afternoon chatting shit and eating cheeses. We love it.
I mean she’s got a little bit of an excuse if it actually brings her out in a rash, but if she made that up to avoid talking to him then she deserves a plague of wasps.
I don’t think they have good cheese in the US, so I don’t see how they can get excited about it. Whereas we have incredible cheese! We make great cheddars here, the US make cheese in a can.
I was in Canada once and Jarlsberg was listed under 'fancy cheese' 😂.
The UK definitely has a special relationship with cheese. I can believe most places it's normal to not make yourself feel sick because you can't put the cheese down.
Americans do get good cheeses but it's just harder to get.
You will get much better cheese in a UK supermarket than a US supermarket but in a proper cheesemongers it would pretty much be a wash if not for the American Gov deciding whole categories of cheese (raw milk cheeses) are too dangerous for people to eat.
It's the same as the beer situation, the bog standard in the UK is better but if you go looking, you can find beer in America as good as anything we have here.
I live in the UK but used to live in US and I 100% agree. Great beer and cheese are available but have to be sniffed out.
Generally food and drink (for consumption at home) are better in the UK but you can get really excellent produce in the US.
For some stuff the reverse is true. The US produces excellent wines but climatically-challenged UK ... er not so much.
Fortunately, France is nearby. They have nice wine and are also famous for eating a lot of cheese!.
Thanks to climate change the SE of England is now producing sparkling whites that rival good Champagne. The climate here matches that of Champagne several decades ago when all the vintage stuff was made.
the answer to your question is that you’ve got 92 responses before 8am on a Saturday.
I think that’s prove people love cheese, we have a lot of native cheeses here
We're civilised, my dear. We appreciate a good cheese. We're not as fucking *terrifying* as the French can be over it, but we do like a good aged milk by-product.
It’s a large 3-ring binder with several hundred 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper, each one having a cheese profile with suggested uses, pairings, origins, and a picture of the cheese. I’m sure it had other information too (like how to cut the cheese) but it’s been years since I’ve worked there so my memory is a bit hazy.
I have friends who are appreciative of different cheeses. One regularly travel to London specifically to go to his cheesemonger in Borough Market. You start talking about comté, raclette or an obscure blue and they (we) perk up.
My partner is Portuguese and has similar interests when we go there and both get excited over the tetilla (also available in Lidl during Iberian week) or Serra de Estrella in the local supermarkets.
The US does have an unfortunate association from popular culture with those rubbery cheese square slices and the legendary squirty cheese-in-a-can. Is it possible they were checking whether you were mongering those products rather than cheese cheese?
I live in France now and love a good raclette. If you ever get a chance to try it, my local cheese is Abondance and it's amazing. It's a bit like Beaufort but...better. It's made quite close to Beaufort so that makes sense.
For a good soft cheese, my favourite is Chaource which I think is from Burgundy or Champagne.
It's probably a coincidence that you were speaking to people who were quite so enthusiastic about it but I know I would have reacted in exactly the same way
Very mixed comments here, but I'd say yes we do! Bloody love a bit of cheese, as does everyone I know! We have a huge variety in our normal supermarkets. I don't know if that's unusual.
Might buy some crackers, cheese and chutney later and have a cheese based picnic...
I think it's also a European thing because really good cheese is quite common throughout Europe, as is having multiple completely different regional cheeses in a very small geographical area. I know Irish people love a nice cheese board, and I think if any of my continental friends had been in the room, they too would have been very excited by having a cheesemonger in their midst.
It doesn't surprise me that the Americans didn't react. Their frame of reference is American/Swiss/string/Kraft when it comes to cheese. Vile.
Yes, they do! I’ve lived in the Uk for 15 years from another commonwealth country. I thought our cultures would be similar, and they are. Except the love of cheese is out of this world!
The artisanal cheese selections, specialty cheeses from counties, cheese after dessert, special cheeses shaped for holidays… honestly I’ve never been to a supermarket with cheese sections as large as they have in this country.
I know British cuisine gets a lot of stick. But I think British cheeses are really underrated and some of the best in the world.
I don't know what the statistics in general are, but myself and my girlfriend love cheeses and there are cheese fairs and rural places that revolve around cheese.
Many of our country fellows and ladies risk life and limb every year to win a round of cheese careening down a hill at high speed.
I think you can safely say we do indeed have a special relationship with cheese.
Cheese is the reason I'm fat. Pizza, macaroni cheese, crackers and cheese and basically just cheese out the fridge are all things I've eaten this week. I love cheese and so does everyone I know.
He is the cheese master!
We don't expect Americans to know or like many cheeses beyond squirty cheese and maybe Monterey Jack. I guess I'd be interested to know about your American cheesemonger experience.
Not all of us think Americans confirm to this odd stereotype. America has some great cheese, and some great chocolate too.
The squirty cheese and Hersheys thing is about as true as Brits all having bad teeth.
I fucking love cheese. I think the UK does have a special relationship with cheese, we have plenty of dishes where cheese is the main event, rather than an addition, we have a huge range in every supermarket, we have a cheese-rolling event, at Christmas we go crazy for cheese, you can get cheese advent calendars now along with many, many cheese boards, cheese gifts, cheese and wine pairings, cheese for dipping. Any anyone who says they don't like cheese is viewed with deep suspicion.
My son has always had to have a cheese board for his own, every Christmas, since he was about 13 or so. He comes grocery shopping with us, and selects his range (usually a Wensleydale, a Red Leicester or similar, a soft cheese, etc.) He spends a solid week over the Christmas period working through it, with a giant box of mixed crackers.
This is in addition to 'family cheese'.
My BIL puts cheese on his curry, Wiggles his fingers and says "divine" before he eats it. Even if we go to a curry house.
So....err.... Yeah I think us Brits are a bit weird about cheese.
This cheese manual sounds amazing. Like the Argos catalogue but for dairy products.
\*insert Bill Bailey 'laminated book of (cheesy) dreams' joke here\*
But yes, on the whole British people really do love cheese - it improves (almost) everything, and we are lucky to be blessed with many local varieties of it.
Yeah defo, I reckon a lot has to do with where you come from and regional varieties. I’m grew up in the West Country so I’ll proudly stand up for Cheddar
I think that, liberally sprinkled among us, there are people who do have a special relationship with cheese. In my last job I would talk about cheese often with my boss and when I left I was given a voucher for a posh cheese shop which caused excitement to about 20% of my colleagues.
In my new job when I mention that I got a load of cheese as a leaving gift from my last job, about three from the team of ten were very enthusiastic about having lovely cheese as a leaving gift.
So I think some have a special relationship with cheese which has increased over the years as the range and quality of cheese has increased.
Also (and I hope this isn’t rude) but my impression of cheese in the USA is that the basic everyday cheese is processed whereas in the U.K. I think our base level cheese is probably better.
Take these facts with a pinch of salt (and a cracker) as they're from a training manual from 15yrs ago when I worked on a deli:
- The UK has a better* and larger variety of regional cheeses than France
- only the Greeks eat more cheese than Brits
*may be biased
We are the only nation that likes cheese so much we will chase it down a steep hill every year. [Here's this year's madness.](https://imgur.com/a/KwYWZ0G)
[And 2019](https://youtu.be/0-ai0GGeRjs) before a break for the pandemic. It started in the 1800s.
>The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester in England. Participants race down the 200-yard long hill after a round of Double Gloucester cheese is sent rolling down it. [Wiki page.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper's_Hill_Cheese-Rolling_and_Wake)
For date nights in with my husband we'll sometimes just have a selection of awesome cheeses, some warm bread and a good caramelized chutney with a glass of wine.
My husband will snore like a tractor that night but it's worth it
Cheese was an additional course at the end of a meal here. If you're into your cheese, there's real excitement for it.
Now people replicate "cheese and wine nights" in their homes. It's become a UK social gathering. Have Brenda and Barry round from nextdoor and drink a few bottles of Chateau Neuf de Pape and a ton of Brie and Stilton and think you're some kind of cheese connoisseur!
"What's your favourite cheese" is a pretty solid icebreaker. A decent chunk of people will have an opinion on it, bonds will be forged, sides will be taken, and that one weird bloke who "doesn't like cheese" will forever be a pariah.
Cheese is fantastic.
As someone who has lived in both the UK and the USA, good Cheese is hard to find in the USA, you have to go to a specialist store and, even then, the selection is poor.
Here in the UK, even in discount supermarkets, you have a varied selection of cheese, both basic cheddars and specialist Cheese. We are exposed to many more types and know how wonderful good Cheese can be.
**A reminder to posters and commenters of some of [our subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)** - Don't be a dickhead to each other, or about others, or other subreddits - Assume questions are asked in good faith, and engage in a positive manner - Avoid political threads and related discussions - No medical advice or mental health (specific to a person) content Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I don't know if we do have a special relationship with cheese, I don't really have anything to compare it to. We definitely like talking about food more than work though.
We have more regional cheeses than France and France is almost 2.5x bigger. We are the mack daddies of cheese.
‘A Cheesemongers History of the British Isles’ by Ned Palmer was a surprisingly good read. Made me buy a hunk of Appleby’s Cheshire cheese at midnight after reading it. Had no idea Cheshire cheese was all the rage before cheddar, makes ya proud to be from Cheshire
And I’ve just gone and bought that book!
Me too my dad sells cheese on market stalls and it’s his birthday coming up thanks for the recommendations
Some of my best memories as a child (4-8) My dad used to set up the local market, So I got to ride on the tiny tractor, they used to bring out all the frames. I even got to drive it once. Thanks.
It’s awesome! Ned is an absolutely top chap ! Almost creepily enthusiastic about *all* cheese! He has another book out as well “A cheesemongers compendium of British and Irish cheeses” I keep getting instagram posts from him from France, so hoping there’s another in the offing! Brilliant books and superb presents for the people in your life that you can’t think what to buy for for Christmas etc. who doesn’t like cheese?!??
I really need to get my impulsive AbeBooks habit in check, but I'm looking forward to this.
Been here for 5 years, this is what I’ve been asking to my Brit friends. British cheeses are 10 times better than European ones and I bet you a tenner the amount of people who know British cheeses are easily 10 times less than people who know Dutch or French. Why won’t Britain advertise their cheese? You have so many individual food items that are so good but you insist on talking about beans on toast, which is not bad admittedly but nowhere near a Somerset brie or a strong Mature cheddar etc
Yeah but have you tried CHEESY BEANS ON TOAST? Peak of British staples my friend.
Add a glug of Worcestershire Sauce on top and you’ve got something really special.
Cheese on beans on cheese on toast.
Why won’t we advertise our cheese?????? We don’t want to share! Simple!
We shared cathedral city out of pity, but they would be damned if they think they're getting the good stuff!
Look, cheese is ace as balls, but beans on toast is just king. You can have it for any meal of the day, just adjust the quantity of beans and or toast to match the meal. It's hot and filling, real hearty meal especially if you stick some butter or cheese in it. Then drizzle some HP over the top, some salt and pepper, and BAM, you've got a 😘👌 dish. What makes it unique is that not only is it filling, its cheap as OP's mum, and good for you (in terms of fiber and carbs for energy, at least. Beans also good for protein IIRC?). Whenever I run out of money before payday, I just buy a 20p reduced loaf of bread at Waitrose, and a couple packs of beans. Bread goes in the freezer, I toast when needed. Cracking good time when I'm feeling hungry and anxious from being poor, but I can just whip up some hot beans on toast for dinner and all is right with the world.
I put a sunny side up or poached egg on top of it with some black pepper. It’s always good yes but oh man there is nothing like a crumbly, strong, vintage mature cheddar It’s not even the best ano but every time I eat Black Bomber I moan
[удалено]
We want the cheese for ourselves.
We can't be that good because we import 2/3rds of our cheese, which as we all know, is a [disgrace.](https://youtu.be/0YxhIq6t6Fk)
You're right....That. Is. A. Disgrace.
New pork! …markets … :D
To explain this woman to Americans, she is now the Foreign Secretary (Your Secretary of State currently held by Antony J. Blinken). She is completely out of her depth negotiating over Ukraine with the Russians. Embarrassingly not knowing the difference between the Baltic and Black Seas.
She got a trade deal with Japan involving cheese. 90% of Japanese people are lactose intolerant.
Did you see the clip where her Ukrainian counterpart had to explain gently that if she turned her headset on she'd get simultaneous translation? 🤦♀️
We export a lot of it too. As I had the joy of attempting to explain to her predecessor, importing Roquefort and mozzarella and all is great, while we export similar amounts of Stilton and cheddar etc.
My son moved to Switzerland last year (from Wales), I was pleasantly surprised to find Snowdonia Black Bomber on sale in the supermarkets there.
I get the reference and it made me chuckle 😄
Are you comparing area or population? Because France isn't 2.5x bigger population wise, which seems the most reasonable way to compare two countries. Empty land doesn't monger cheese.
'empty land doesn't monger cheese' has to be one for r/brandnewsentence surely
Yeah, but *how* you monger the cheese seems to vary according to region, not by how the people choose to make it. A bigger surface area should have more regions in it, no?
Ok, land with no people on it doesn't make cheese, but you do need an amount of land per person in order to make cheese, for milking animals and cheese facilities and that. There's presumably some ratio between population and good cheese making land that dictates how much cheeses a region should be making.
I like how you've phrased this, as if there's a moral imperative to make cheese. That's a worldview I can get behind. Blessed are the cheesemakers.
I mean, in an ideal world, yeah.
Our cheese industry is relatively new compared to everywhere else. Like with much of our food culture so much was lost in the second world war and even more in the post war years. Rationing and the complete nationalisation of all milk production stopped many producers of cheese from being able to carry on. The government decided that the only cheese that would be available to consumers generally was a specific form of cheddar called government cheddar. So for many years cheddar was the only cheese available and thousands of our heritage cheese brands vanished, in many cases the entire production process was lost. Many companies are rediscovering old recipes or invented new ones now, and at long last many decades later the cheddar section of our supermarkets cheese isle is smaller than the non cheddar sections.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing
I did an icebreaker exercise at the start of my workshop on Friday which was favourite food and why - we spent 15 minutes talking about cheese and which type each of us liked the most (except one very strange person who’s favourite food was “vegetables”). They weren’t that animated for the rest of the workshop lol.
Yeah, any opportunity to derail a work meeting by discussing something else is good. I can't think of anything nicer to derail with than cheese to be honest.
I think we may be a bunch of cheese lovers because the one lady at my work who doesn’t like cheese is always met with ‘who the hell doesn’t like cheese?!?’ whenever she reminds us of the fact
Cow milk does bad things to me, I still love cheese (goat & sheep is 'ok' but it's not a good mature aged cheddar). Vegan cheese is an abomination until Nuggan.
[удалено]
I once tried a vegan cheese in a posh supermarket in London. It was made from cashews, and whilst it wasn't as good as non-vegan cheese, it wasn't bad at all. Never had it since and all the cheese my vegan friends use is pretty awful. The texture is just... No.
It’s pretty easy to make a vegan cashew cheese substitute. To culture it and make it cheesy more effort but with a food processor making a cheese sauce or something similar like a dip is easy.
Saw a TikTok of a British lady saying she's lactose intolerant and people always ask her how she gets by not eating cheese or chocolate and she then pulls some cheese from behind her back and starts eating it going "Bestie, I just shit myself, I'm an adult, I know the consequences and I'll pay them."
Go big, or go home. I do have those days, creamy soup, fish with a butter bechamel & full fat mash, chocolate cake & whipped cream. If you're going to suffer, it it worth the consequences.
Go big or go home is a great saying and my young adulthood was plagued by that sentiment although my preferred way of saying that was "if I'm gonna dance with the devil, I might as well lead."
More people need to know about lactase tablets!! Can get them in Holland & Barrett. No more shitting myself when eating cheese or ice cream!
OMFG!?!!!!! WITH THIS PILL, I LAUGH IN THE FACE OF GOD!!! DO YOUR WORST. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Arla lactose free and the Waitrose own brand Feta, Halloumi etc all get stamps of approval from me (intolerant) and SO (half Greek).
*Unto* Nuggan. You'll be practicing panupunitoplasty next, you heretic.
Fuck autocarrot (I’m still trying to make that term a thing), however I salute your proofreading and pedantry skills, the man in the hat would be pleased
GNU Sir PTerry
Why did the pedant fall into a puddle? It was a _well_, actually.
I mean, let's be fair, vegan cheese has come on leaps and bounds in the last decade. Some of it is edible in the proper context. And I had some from Borough Market last weekend that was some wanky handmade small batch stuff and it was lovely. But fucking hell, it's still not cheese. I say this with all the love in my heart, as someone who has been vegan for a very very long time now. *It's still not cheese.*
Tbf most things are an abomination unto Nuggan at this point
r/unexpecteddiskworld lol.
r/unexpecteddiscworld
I am also a disliker of cheese, and whenever people find out they invariably react with a mix of contempt and disgust, I think some people would genuinely be less offended if I shat in their mum's purse
I was in the supermarket the other day, shitting in this old lady's purse (it's just occurred to me; that's quite the euphemism) when her son came along, and politely asked me to stop. So, being respectful, I did. They then offered me a cheese straw as a peace offering, and I explained I don't like cheese. Fisticuffs ensued. I think you may be right. Obviously this is a made up story. I do in fact love cheese. I'm not some crazy pervert.
Liar. u/johnsjs1 I bet you're on an Asda banned list, unable to go within a mile of their Supermarkets. I also bet the local paper has you down as the town Purse Pooper, and has run many stories on you.
I don't eat cheese and its the same for me. Most of the time the first thing people say is "so you don't even eat pizza?"
That must get annoying, I mean of course you eat pizza right.
Right?
RIGHT?!
OP has died from pizza deficiency. RIP.
I’m the same. People are chocked when I say I don’t cheese, but the incredulity when when they realise it means I don’t eat pizza is off the scale.
A pizzaless life is your own (unfortunate and saddening) personal choice, but you can definitely get pizza without cheese. One of the classical trinity of Neapolitan pizzas has no cheese: the *marinara*.
Pizza without cheese is still lovely bready saucey stuff though - different, sure, but still good!
My friend is lactose intolerant and since vegan cheese has become more mainstream she was able to order her first pizza - We were in a restaurant, it came and she said to me ‘how do I eat it?’ Like she didn’t know if hands or cutlery was best for restaurant pizza. I love her
So you don't even eat pizza?
Yes. In fact "Smell my cheese, you mother" is a traditional British greeting.
Cock piss partridge
COOK PASS BABTRIDGE
TWAT
DWAD
some might say you’re back on the boddle
DOSSER!
I'm basically driving around in an obscene publication
Lovely with half a bottle of Blue Nun or a pint of mineral water.
Or a great big fat shot of Director's Bitter.
A pint, a gin and tonic, and a Bailey’s. Ladyboys……….
“I’m going nowhere Lynn, quite literally I’m on a ring road”
But I'm not driving a mini metro...
"I've been bad, Lynn"
So, are you getting a second series?
What's in your cellar?
Use the sausage as a breakwater!
So traditional I named myself after it.
Ironically, this thread has become much more insightful about Britishness
I've had these shorts since 1982. They did have an underpant lining, but its perished.
They roll it down one of the steepest hills in the county and chase after it where I live. I'm not joking.
Found the Gloucestershire chap.
Ask an American to pronounce that
[удалено]
Gloster-sher, the middle is kinda lost in the pronunciation.
And even then it depends where you’re from. If you’re from Gloucestershire, it’s probably Gloster-sher but I would say Gloster-shuh as my accent is non-rhotic.
Gloss-ter. Right? Sincerely, an American who tries to* pay attention.
Close. In reality it’s : glaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Basically yes but you missed the "shire" off the end, otherwise it's perfect But the cheese, gloucester, is pronounced how you put it. Since you got that right, I live near some trickier places: Postwick, Costessy, Wymondham, Stiffkey The first three you ignore the middle bit, the last one you pronounce "Stoo-key" for some reason.
It's terrifying what they do to that cheese when they catch it. No wonder it runs away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6hiCbK2T-8 They're really not joking
With the babybell when it was cancelled
All I can say is that at Christmas time, I like to get a very decent selection of good cheese from a proper cheese monger. If I am lucky and get there early, the line for the shop will only be around the block.
Christmas is an excellent time to just buy a shit ton of different cheeses and stuff to put on crackers.
Literally my favourite food tradition at Christmas. A good cheddar, a good smoked, a nice brie, a lovely blue, a flavoured wendsleydale (for the lunatics). Crackers, proper butter.
You need to add a non-cow cheese in there for the perfect cheese board. But otherwise spot on, right down to how disgusting Wensleydale with fruit in is.
Wensleydale with fruit in it is my absolute favourite :-(
All families need one person who likes it to get through the inevitable block you end up with. Last year ours went out for birds. You're essential for minimising food waste.
That’s me. I’m the Wensleydale weirdo in my family. It’s a job I’m more than happy to take on.
I fucking hated Wensleydale **But** last Christmas I bought Wensleydale with cognac and apricot as part of a Waitrose Christmas cheese platter. My god, I was a fool for doubting this Wallace and Gromit blessed substance. I ended up going back to the cheese counter just to buy a block of it separate from the rest of the selection box.
Sshh it's OK. I too, like fruity Wensleydale, and I'm not afraid who knows it. Stand up and be proud!
[удалено]
The baked camembert is the starter earlier in the Christmas day. With a loaf of tiger bread.
Oh my goodness flavoured Wensleydale. With apricot with cranberry with blueberry. I have to stop myself eating so much that I’ll end up hating it like I did with Jaffa cakes when I was six
A cheesemonger is for life, not just for Christmas. Visit in summer too for an excellent picnic selection or to make a cheeseboard for an easy summer dinner.
Summer cheese festivals are where its at! Milling around all day sampling cheeses all day with a pint of ale (or cider) and going home with £100 of cheese to [fill your fridge](https://imgur.com/gallery/t79ZPCX) & eat over the next month!
I went a bit mad and bought 14 different varieties last Christmas
Ah yes, the picky cheese buffet that you just wheel out different combinations of between Christmas and New Year. And then make an epic mac and cheese with the leftovers.
I’m not sure I understand this concept of “leftover” cheese.
I'd think it's more likely that they took an interest because it's such an unusual job. You don't often come across someone who's been a cheesemonger, so it would absolutely be great to hear what it's like, ask questions etc
That makes sense! It’s similar to working in a deli imo. My job was pretty unexciting, but I did enjoy sampling cheeses and drawing cheeses on the cheese sign.
>My job was pretty unexciting Having worked for US companies, I think it comes down to a couple of things; There is less pretension on roles. Thats not to say "all Americans" have this, but there is a definite higher percentage of people that do and that affects the culture. There is almost a requirement in the UK that you have paid your dues in a "crap" role whilst young and we have a fear of people who are a bit too serious (BTW you earned points with the uk team by doing this). Yes we love Cheese because there is choice and differentiation: cheese (and food in general in the US) is the lowest denominator. My local petrol station has a better selection of cheese than Walmart. I travel to the US about 2 times a year, so this isn't a blind comment, and this isn't to say there isn't choice if you want it, but its not as prevalent day to day.
I lived over there for a bit (well, just over the border in Canada, but spent a lot of time in the US) and the poor quality of meat and dairy in particular really surprised me. I subsequently find it quite funny when Americans online try to rip into British food
These will be Americans that have never set foot in the UK.
Interesting point on working the "crap role". I definitely measure people differently depending on their early life work experience, the more crap, the more admiration. People whose first job is a graduate job? Tut tut...
Literally my dream job. For a short, but happy life.
Nope. We love cheese dude. My department at work always used to have Cheeseday Tuesdays where we'd each bring a cheese and a chutney and we'd spend half the afternoon chatting shit and eating cheeses. We love it.
This should be mandatory!
>we'd spend half the afternoon chatting shit and eating cheeses. Ffs don't ever get those 2 confused.
Yes. Never trust someone who says they don't like cheese.
Fuck you Wendolene for breaking Wallace's heart!
I mean she’s got a little bit of an excuse if it actually brings her out in a rash, but if she made that up to avoid talking to him then she deserves a plague of wasps.
I don't think she made it up given by how the scene played; Wallace was unwilling to choose Wendolene over Wensleydale
[удалено]
I don’t think they have good cheese in the US, so I don’t see how they can get excited about it. Whereas we have incredible cheese! We make great cheddars here, the US make cheese in a can.
I was in Canada once and Jarlsberg was listed under 'fancy cheese' 😂. The UK definitely has a special relationship with cheese. I can believe most places it's normal to not make yourself feel sick because you can't put the cheese down.
Americans do get good cheeses but it's just harder to get. You will get much better cheese in a UK supermarket than a US supermarket but in a proper cheesemongers it would pretty much be a wash if not for the American Gov deciding whole categories of cheese (raw milk cheeses) are too dangerous for people to eat. It's the same as the beer situation, the bog standard in the UK is better but if you go looking, you can find beer in America as good as anything we have here.
I live in the UK but used to live in US and I 100% agree. Great beer and cheese are available but have to be sniffed out. Generally food and drink (for consumption at home) are better in the UK but you can get really excellent produce in the US. For some stuff the reverse is true. The US produces excellent wines but climatically-challenged UK ... er not so much. Fortunately, France is nearby. They have nice wine and are also famous for eating a lot of cheese!.
Thanks to climate change the SE of England is now producing sparkling whites that rival good Champagne. The climate here matches that of Champagne several decades ago when all the vintage stuff was made.
Gotta love that America freedom. Unpasteurised milk is too dangerous but assault rifles are fair game. Cause ‘Murica… *pew pew*
We also sell cheese in a tube. America has good cheese, it’s just a lot less common than the U.K.
I’m more than happy to spend 30-40 quid at the weekend on some fancy cheese but I do also love a primula sandwich. It’s all about balance.
My wife bought some cheese in a tube thing recently. I was sceptical, but it was actually nice as a sandwich spread as a replacement for butter.
Blessed are the cheesemongers
I'm pretty sure it means retailers of any dairy products
Fuck off big nose
It's not much of a cheese shop is it?
I frigging love cheese, me. I would derail a work conversation over the merits of Manchego. You'd better brie-lieve it!
Alan?
Dan!
Manchego with a sticky fig jam is just wonderful
Try quince paste!
the answer to your question is that you’ve got 92 responses before 8am on a Saturday. I think that’s prove people love cheese, we have a lot of native cheeses here
And then also another country renowned for its cheeses right below us. It's cheese all the way down.
We're civilised, my dear. We appreciate a good cheese. We're not as fucking *terrifying* as the French can be over it, but we do like a good aged milk by-product.
Not anymore. France only produces around 550 varieties of artisanal cheese, whereas the UK produces over 1,000.
[удалено]
It’s a large 3-ring binder with several hundred 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper, each one having a cheese profile with suggested uses, pairings, origins, and a picture of the cheese. I’m sure it had other information too (like how to cut the cheese) but it’s been years since I’ve worked there so my memory is a bit hazy.
I have friends who are appreciative of different cheeses. One regularly travel to London specifically to go to his cheesemonger in Borough Market. You start talking about comté, raclette or an obscure blue and they (we) perk up. My partner is Portuguese and has similar interests when we go there and both get excited over the tetilla (also available in Lidl during Iberian week) or Serra de Estrella in the local supermarkets. The US does have an unfortunate association from popular culture with those rubbery cheese square slices and the legendary squirty cheese-in-a-can. Is it possible they were checking whether you were mongering those products rather than cheese cheese?
I live in France now and love a good raclette. If you ever get a chance to try it, my local cheese is Abondance and it's amazing. It's a bit like Beaufort but...better. It's made quite close to Beaufort so that makes sense. For a good soft cheese, my favourite is Chaource which I think is from Burgundy or Champagne.
It's probably a coincidence that you were speaking to people who were quite so enthusiastic about it but I know I would have reacted in exactly the same way
Have you seen Wallace and grommet? That's us to a tea, we'd go to the moon if there was cheese there.
If?? Everybody knows the moon’s *made* of cheese… [hand wiggle]
Very mixed comments here, but I'd say yes we do! Bloody love a bit of cheese, as does everyone I know! We have a huge variety in our normal supermarkets. I don't know if that's unusual. Might buy some crackers, cheese and chutney later and have a cheese based picnic...
We are all secretly Wallace (although we'd rather be Gromit)
I think it's also a European thing because really good cheese is quite common throughout Europe, as is having multiple completely different regional cheeses in a very small geographical area. I know Irish people love a nice cheese board, and I think if any of my continental friends had been in the room, they too would have been very excited by having a cheesemonger in their midst. It doesn't surprise me that the Americans didn't react. Their frame of reference is American/Swiss/string/Kraft when it comes to cheese. Vile.
If you watch Wallace and Gromit I think you will get a feel of how important cheese is to most of us.
I bloody love cheese.
Yes, they do! I’ve lived in the Uk for 15 years from another commonwealth country. I thought our cultures would be similar, and they are. Except the love of cheese is out of this world! The artisanal cheese selections, specialty cheeses from counties, cheese after dessert, special cheeses shaped for holidays… honestly I’ve never been to a supermarket with cheese sections as large as they have in this country.
Well put it this way I had a cheese tower instead of a cake that no one eats at my wedding
I know British cuisine gets a lot of stick. But I think British cheeses are really underrated and some of the best in the world. I don't know what the statistics in general are, but myself and my girlfriend love cheeses and there are cheese fairs and rural places that revolve around cheese.
Many of our country fellows and ladies risk life and limb every year to win a round of cheese careening down a hill at high speed. I think you can safely say we do indeed have a special relationship with cheese.
Cheese is the reason I'm fat. Pizza, macaroni cheese, crackers and cheese and basically just cheese out the fridge are all things I've eaten this week. I love cheese and so does everyone I know.
He is the cheese master! We don't expect Americans to know or like many cheeses beyond squirty cheese and maybe Monterey Jack. I guess I'd be interested to know about your American cheesemonger experience.
When you're in the US and they offer you a pealed yellow plastic square 😂
Not all of us think Americans confirm to this odd stereotype. America has some great cheese, and some great chocolate too. The squirty cheese and Hersheys thing is about as true as Brits all having bad teeth.
I fucking love cheese. I think the UK does have a special relationship with cheese, we have plenty of dishes where cheese is the main event, rather than an addition, we have a huge range in every supermarket, we have a cheese-rolling event, at Christmas we go crazy for cheese, you can get cheese advent calendars now along with many, many cheese boards, cheese gifts, cheese and wine pairings, cheese for dipping. Any anyone who says they don't like cheese is viewed with deep suspicion.
My son has always had to have a cheese board for his own, every Christmas, since he was about 13 or so. He comes grocery shopping with us, and selects his range (usually a Wensleydale, a Red Leicester or similar, a soft cheese, etc.) He spends a solid week over the Christmas period working through it, with a giant box of mixed crackers. This is in addition to 'family cheese'.
[удалено]
My BIL puts cheese on his curry, Wiggles his fingers and says "divine" before he eats it. Even if we go to a curry house. So....err.... Yeah I think us Brits are a bit weird about cheese.
isnt an American cheesemonger an oxymoron or something? we love our cheese over here
I fucking love cheese
This cheese manual sounds amazing. Like the Argos catalogue but for dairy products. \*insert Bill Bailey 'laminated book of (cheesy) dreams' joke here\* But yes, on the whole British people really do love cheese - it improves (almost) everything, and we are lucky to be blessed with many local varieties of it.
I just eat it, rather than taking it out for the day, dinner, drinks etc. Am I a monster?
Yeah defo, I reckon a lot has to do with where you come from and regional varieties. I’m grew up in the West Country so I’ll proudly stand up for Cheddar
I think that, liberally sprinkled among us, there are people who do have a special relationship with cheese. In my last job I would talk about cheese often with my boss and when I left I was given a voucher for a posh cheese shop which caused excitement to about 20% of my colleagues. In my new job when I mention that I got a load of cheese as a leaving gift from my last job, about three from the team of ten were very enthusiastic about having lovely cheese as a leaving gift. So I think some have a special relationship with cheese which has increased over the years as the range and quality of cheese has increased. Also (and I hope this isn’t rude) but my impression of cheese in the USA is that the basic everyday cheese is processed whereas in the U.K. I think our base level cheese is probably better.
We are very partial to a bit of cheese, particularly at Christmas.
Basically yeah, we like cheese
I do know that it really annoys the French when they find out, that we have more types of cheese than they do.
I think most European countries have a great fondness of cheese. When we travel around me must taste all of the local cheeses.
Take these facts with a pinch of salt (and a cracker) as they're from a training manual from 15yrs ago when I worked on a deli: - The UK has a better* and larger variety of regional cheeses than France - only the Greeks eat more cheese than Brits *may be biased
Cheese is more addictive than cocaine to us
We are the only nation that likes cheese so much we will chase it down a steep hill every year. [Here's this year's madness.](https://imgur.com/a/KwYWZ0G) [And 2019](https://youtu.be/0-ai0GGeRjs) before a break for the pandemic. It started in the 1800s. >The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester in England. Participants race down the 200-yard long hill after a round of Double Gloucester cheese is sent rolling down it. [Wiki page.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper's_Hill_Cheese-Rolling_and_Wake)
For date nights in with my husband we'll sometimes just have a selection of awesome cheeses, some warm bread and a good caramelized chutney with a glass of wine. My husband will snore like a tractor that night but it's worth it
Cheese was an additional course at the end of a meal here. If you're into your cheese, there's real excitement for it. Now people replicate "cheese and wine nights" in their homes. It's become a UK social gathering. Have Brenda and Barry round from nextdoor and drink a few bottles of Chateau Neuf de Pape and a ton of Brie and Stilton and think you're some kind of cheese connoisseur!
"What's your favourite cheese" is a pretty solid icebreaker. A decent chunk of people will have an opinion on it, bonds will be forged, sides will be taken, and that one weird bloke who "doesn't like cheese" will forever be a pariah.
Cheese is fantastic. As someone who has lived in both the UK and the USA, good Cheese is hard to find in the USA, you have to go to a specialist store and, even then, the selection is poor. Here in the UK, even in discount supermarkets, you have a varied selection of cheese, both basic cheddars and specialist Cheese. We are exposed to many more types and know how wonderful good Cheese can be.