In the Meantime: In Search of Something Cheesy

No cheese, but plenty of natural beauty

During the month or two after my Black Sheep internship and the end of my roadtrip, I slowly began to have a meltdown -- not of the delicious melty cheese variety, but more of the metaphysical "what am I supposed to do with my life now" variety. Cheese and I had physically, not emotionally, grown apart while in Del Rio, which left me with a lot of searching on my hands. I could feast on all the Queso Fresco I wanted, or take it back to old school college days with Wal-Mart brand cheddar and Easy Cheese galore. That was about it, at least until I drove the 2.5 hours to the nearest cheese counter. Potential cheese employment would require just as much searching and driving. I was in some sort of cheese-free purgatory, with great experiences behind me and hopeful optimism for the future. But until that future arrived, I'd have to figure out how to gain more knowledge while in Del Rio for the next year or so.

I started emailing cheesemakers and cheese stores in (relatively) nearby and bigger Texas cities. The response rate was low. Most that did respond didn't have any open positions. The response from one cheesemaker in Waco was promising. I soon thereafter arranged a follow-up visit with them on my way up north to visit friends and family in the Midwest. On the same trip, I arranged to visit a cheesemonger in Dallas who didn't have any open positions on staff but was kind enough to speak with me anyway. Like I've always said, unlike legal "networking," cheese "networking" is actually enjoyable and not at all humiliating. On the way, I also made a point to pop into Whole Foods, Central Markets, and cheese stores in Dallas and Austin with a more personal employment inquiry.

My first stop was Brazos Valley Cheese (BVC) in Waco. I had heard of a few of their cheeses through the ACS awards, where they placed in a couple categories. I had never tried their cheese. Actually, I had never tried any Texas cheesemakers' cheeses. The BVC cheesemakers are part of a larger self-sustaining craft community, which includes services such as a blacksmith, pottery studio, grist mill, and cafe. They offer classes to the public in these and many other skilled trades. I got the grand tour and sampled several of their delicious freshly-made food stuffs...including handmade ice cream, which remains the fastest way to win me over. Still, when I described the opportunity to others, and the words "Waco, Texas" and "self-sustaining agrarian religious community" were placed in combination, it elicited some understandably curious reactions and half-joking queries regarding stereotypical media images. I know what you're thinking, but there is no such thing as a cheese cult. Though I could see myself starting one. Everyone was very kind and I enjoyed the cheese I tasted. I was surprised to hear that nobody had ever asked to come on staff and help out with cheesemaking. I actually discovered in my searching process that most Texas cheesemakers didn't have a hiring or internship program. The cheese scene was growing but relatively new here, and cheesemakers seemed used to doing it on their own. BVC, however, seemed receptive to my help. A part-time opportunity that would allow me to go back and forth from Del Rio was available to me if I could manage the driving. More on that soon.

I checked in with larger chains that have full cheese counters like Whole Foods to no avail. If it wasn't posted on their online job bank, it didn't exist. Cheese stores, likewise, were fully staffed. Nevertheless, I enjoyed scoping out the cheese store scene here. If Cheesy Street were to open in Texas in one of many potential business models I have schemed up, I started to get an idea of what would work and where. First, direct cheese retail competition with the bigger natural foods chain stores like Whole Foods and Central Market seems rough here. Their cheese counters are baller. The natural food stores with which I'm familiar never had cheese counters that could be their own free-standing cheese store like the ones here.  As for free-standing cheese stores, Antonelli's in Austin and Scardello's in Dallas are amazing. Both had a great selection and friendly, helpful cheesemongers. They have now been added to my list of cheese store heroes. In any city where my cheese heroes exist, I would have a hard time opening up anything unless we could all be friends. A non-competitive spirit might be my downfall in business.

Mozzarella Company in Dallas is probably the most well-known and highly regarded cheesemaker in Texas. They have many non-mozzarella style cheeses, but the mozzarella itself is amazing. It's so rich and creamy that I've never felt so guilty eating mozzarella. I decided to check out their store to discover it's not really a store at all. It's just a small room with a cooler full of cheese and a viewing area of their production room. Making cheese there seemed just as awesome as selling their cheese. Unfortunately, staff turnover is almost nonexistent. I was told most of their cheesemakers had been there for decades.

While it seemed next to impossible to get anyone in this state to let me help make or sell cheese, I had a wonderful time making the rounds and starting to re-establish my cheese knowledge.

There was only one major fail: a cheese store in Dallas that shall remain nameless. I'll just say it was in an area of town that upon driving into, I knew before even seeing the shop that it would not be the right fit for me. The store itself was across the way from a Jimmy Choo store and down the street from SMU (where rich kids keep it classy). My car was the most busted looking thing in a two mile radius. I suspected the clientele would fill me with throat-punching frustration on a daily basis.  Let's be real, I'm not gonna hate on money. Sure my dirty, road warrior CR-V could eat your stupid Lexus SUV for dinner. But some disposable income is necessary to buy artisanal cheese and for a cheese store to survive. And, sure, I'd like to be able to afford a nice house someday too. Yet, the complete sterility of the place was discomforting. Upon walking into the store, I was not greeted with the same warmth as I get in most other great cheese stores. The display and selection was depressing. It was obvious that shopping for a $400 shirt was the main goal of the retail area. Cheese was just an afterthought. Anything European seemed fancy enough for this place to survive with its customers I suppose. I entered, not wanting to judge a book by its cover, but left even more disappointed than I had expected. It was the type of store that makes artisanal cheese experimentation seem like a useless and snobbish exercise to cheese lovers and cheese novices alike. Promptly casting aside all pretensions, I used the application to pick a feather, which must have drifted off some roadkill on my long journey, out of my outcast-car's grill. The diseased-looking scrap and application thereafter went in the trash.

It became quickly apparent that I would have to find a way to self-educate while in Del Rio and make multi-hour trips to buy cheese or make cheese commercially. I'm okay making some adjustments to get things done. And, it turns out, I'm starting to really like long-distance driving (cheese trucking business here I come). In the meantime, I just received some home cheesemaking supplies in the mail! Here's to hoping that in search of something cheesy I don't make all our furniture smell like spoiled milk....