30 August 2019
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Lauren TurnerBBC News, Washington DC

Everything you believe you understand about American cheese is incorrect.

That's what the cheese makers and cheesemongers of the US desire to tell you. They're fed up with individuals thinking their valued product is a joke.

When you do a Google search of "why is American cheese ...", among the top recommendations for finishing the sentence are "bad", "so gross" and "not cheese".

It does not assist that "American cheese" is the name for the orange, plastic-wrapped slices - along with representing the entire country's cheese output.

So what does the world requirement to learn about US cheese, rather of believing all that's on deal is dull and mass-produced?

"Obviously they believe that," says Patricia Michelson, founder of London's La Fromagerie. "Because that's what gets exported."

"Certainly in the UK there's a misunderstanding," agrees cheese reporter and senior World Cheese Awards judge Patrick McGuigan.

"If you ask most British individuals to call an American cheese, they 'd go for that orange plastic cheese, which is what the nation is known for globally. But perceptions are changing, particularly amongst people in the understand. American cheeses have actually succeeded at things like the World Cheese Awards."

It doesn't assist that it's hugely pricey to get US cheese across the pond. There are some massive tariffs on US cheese - presently set by the EU and the UK, depending upon the type of cheese - to come into the UK.

"It's up to ₤ 60 ($73) a kilogramme," states Mr McGuigan. "If you're trying to offer to a British consumer, you're saying, 'we have this cheese that's remarkable - it's ₤ 60.' You can see a lot of buyers going, 'hmm I'm not sure.'"

"They are good cheeses. But there are some excellent cheeses [from somewhere else] which are half rate."

Cheddar, for example, is subject to a 167.10 euro ($187.72) per 100kg tariff, with Colby at 151 euro ($166.92) per 100kg.

Looking for US cheeses in London, for individuals to taste test it for this article, proved difficult. It's typically just generated for special occasions, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is when Ms Michelson purchases it in for her world-renowned cheese shops.

She had also intended to import some for Independence Day this year, but paperwork held up the consignment, which currently comes through Paris.

She states there is a "mountain of red tape" to get unpasteurised cheese (which is made from raw milk, and has not been warmed to remove bacteria) offered in the US itself - and then a lot more bureaucracy to get them out of the nation and into the UK.

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Along with logistical problems, she states there are other barriers.

Ms Michelson states she loves American cheese, writing a "substantial chapter" on the topic for her second book, Cheese.

"But trying to get other nations to publish it was difficult," she regrets. "Places like France, Italy and Germany said there was excessive on American cheese. It galled them - they're snobs."

"Farmhouse cheeses are even truly difficult to get in the US," Ms Michelson includes. "You'll only get them in a professional shop, a farmers' market or a really upscale supermarket.

"America itself is not promoting the farmers and their wonderful cheeses - so how in the world is it going to take a trip everywhere else?"

What does not help either is that "it's pre-packed and processed within an inch of its life" so that "there's no smell at all" she says, regreting that people are "afraid of the smell of cheese".

She includes that another reason the mass-produced product succeeds is that people "don't wish to wait - they want to make something, cut it, load it, sell it".

Cheese author and speaker Laura Werlin has a theory about the image issue.

"It's due to the fact that American cheese grew up as a manufactured item primarily," she states. "We required to factories relatively rapidly in our country's evolution and as an outcome, individuals got used to made cheese."

Now the artisan cheese motion "has actually actually taken hold", she states, "however among the challenges is that the rate of American craftsmen cheeses [in the US] tend to be higher than numerous good, or really good, imports".

That, she discusses, is simply since of the high expenses related to the service in the US.

"So as an outcome, even Americans tend to purchase the produced cheeses more than the artisan cheeses - unless they themselves are cheese enthusiasts."

Hundreds of those cheese enthusiasts are at the American Cheese Society conference, being held this year in Richmond, Virginia, where the cheese transformation is on full display.

At the occasion they call "cheese camp" they participate in workshops and talks.

Local craft beers are combined with local cheeses at bars around town, the self-proclaimed curd nerds sharing their vast understanding on the subject.

They even do cheese karaoke (one sings Curds and Whey, to the tune of Purple Rain, sample lyrics "I never ever said you were simply solids/ I never ever indicated to send you down the drain/ There's only one method to get them both together/ Only when you cut the barrel do you see curds and whey").

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Independent cheesemonger Julia Gross (whose tattoos consist of one of a cheese mite) wants to dispel the myth that cheese is in any way elitist.

"Cheesemaking is basically working class. It's a misconception that cheese is simply for rich people. The employees are the main part of the farm, the cows are delighted and it's totally sustainable," she stated. "We need to connect that labour of love to the customer.

"It's not simply buying something delicious, it's being part of a life process."

British expert cheesemaker Mary Quicke, of Quicke's Cheese - the 14th generation of the Quicke household on the farm in the English county of Devon - has actually evaluated at the American Cheese Society competition for many years and is treated as something of a celeb.

"Being a conceited English individual, the first year I judged here I thought, 'Ah bless, the Americans are getting the hang of it'," she laughs.

"Over the 9 years I have actually been evaluating this competitors there has actually been an absolutely phenomenal increase in the quality of cheese."

"It's an enormous renaissance," she includes.

She says cheesemakers on both sides of the Atlantic can discover from each other and introduced the Academy of Cheese expert certification in the UK, motivated by a similar scheme run by the American Cheese Society.

Meet the big cheeses

A total of 1,742 cheeses were entered into competition at the American Cheese Society conference this year (for contrast, in the very first year in 1985 there were 89 entries).

Here are the top 3 cheeses this year:

Stockinghall, finest in show - the cheese was made as a partnership between Murray's Cheese, New York, and Old Chatham Creamery, New York, which provided the cow's milk and the cheesemaker, 33-year-old Brian Schlatter. The cheddar is described as having meaty bacon and sour cream flavours with a pineapple scent. Only 30 truckles are made a month

Professor's Brie, 2nd place - Brian was also the cheesemaker for this square-shaped triple cream cheese made with sheep milk, cow's milk and cow's cream, once again from Old Chatham Creamery, which is aged in Wegman's Good Markets' caves

Aries, 3rd location - this sheep's milk cheese from Shooting Star Creamery, California, was made by 15-year-old Avery Jones with the assistance of her father Reggie Jones' Central Coast Creamery. It's aged for eight months and is only offered at Sigona's Farmers' Market in California

Michael Koch of Maryland's Firefly Farms, joint organiser of this year's conference, states: "The level of quality has actually considerably increased. We're returning to a more localised food system that Europe never left."

He says that the US has a lot to provide the world - partly since of its lack of cheese-making tradition.

"In the States, we aren't confined by custom. So there are cheeses in Europe that have actually been made in the exact same way for an extremely long time.

"Here, we're complimentary to do things like trying to model this type of cheese - but then I'm going to twist it and be whimsical. We have the liberty to colour beyond the lines. We are strong with cheese."

Cheesemaker Britton Welsh definitely concurs. Among the successful items made by Utah-based business Beehive Cheese, of which he is president, is the uncommon Barely Buzzed - a cheese rubbed with coffee grounds and lavender.

When it's been offered in the UK however, it was for the equivalent of $70 per pound - and in the US, it retails for $24. While an exporter looked after procedure, Mr Welsh states there were big transportation and tariff expenses troubled the cheese, and as an outcome it wound up "being exorbitantly expensive and inaccessible to many UK customers".

"Hopefully at some point it will change and customers in the UK will have the ability to enjoy our unique cheeses," he includes.

The young farming household

Trisha Boyce, a third-generation dairy farmer, and her husband Jarred took control of Chapel's Country Creamery in Maryland two years ago. Their young child son Trace is in his element on the dairy farm, running around, stating hey there to the cows (he even has his own) and tasting blue cheese, among his favourites.

"The rate of milk is too low to make a living off any longer," says Trisha, describing why they purchased the farm - already a recognized creamery - and picked to specialise in cheese instead of milk. "The terrific thing is we get to stay here as a family throughout the day and market our own items."

She states that if there were more small artisan cheesemakers, then the perception of American cheese would alter.

But she said that producing things on a little scale is expensive, and "a great deal of Americans want luxurious foods at a routine rate". It does not assist also that European cheeses have a higher credibility than home-grown goods as they're better known for their cheese.

"I would motivate people to take more time to look at where their food is coming from, how it's produced, and the care that's put in behind the scenes. I would like more restaurants to do the farm to table thing and support their local farmers.

"You go to regional stores here and it's complete of Irish cheese, French cheese, Spanish cheese. People say 'it's imported, so it needs to be great'. We're in fact attempting to deal with some regional grocery shops now and get gotten in touch with them. It just takes some time and it's a lot of hard work."

He adds: "A lot of individuals have truly fascinating conceptions of what 'American cheeses' are. But we're getting in cheese competitors in Europe and winning ribbons against individuals who have actually been doing it for hundreds of years.

"Instead of being governed by custom, what we have is a determination to try brand-new things and go where no cheese has actually preceded. So we're attempting new things and having a good time."

Many of the leading cheeses competing at the American Cheese Society conference are currently competition winners at international events, where they associate the creme de la creme of the dairy world.

"US cheese can absolutely complete" says Ross Christieson of the US Dairy Export Council. "Not just compete, but lead the world.

"The US is the biggest exporter of cheese in the world that nobody learns about. What we export ends up on a pizza, a hamburger or in a cheesecake. But it's the specialty cheeses that are truly going to offer us a credibility. We're not going to get a track record from remaining in something, or on something."

He is at the conference with his colleague Angelique Hollister - part of their objective is to urge people to request the World Cheese Awards.

The Frenchwoman confesses she didn't realise what a wealth of US cheese was on offer when she relocated to the US - and now wants to work to "change the understanding and image of US cheese around the globe".

"What is made here in the US definitely compares to what you can find in France, in Europe," she states. "But among the problems we have actually recognized is the supply chain. The US is a big country and it's hard to get products from one location to the other."

The small production doesn't assist matters either.

"This is something that doesn't sell in a complete container load - it's a pallet at a time or even a carton at a time," she adds. "We need to assist get that to the client, at a price that makes good sense."

Nora Weiser, executive director of the American Cheese Society, which runs the annual event, sees a parallel with that other butt of the joke - British food.

"People worldwide will say, 'oh, British food is terrible, they boil whatever and they've got mushy peas'. But there are incredible things happening."

Author Ms Werlin argues that cheese producers in the US have not quite exercised "how to make really good tasting cheese at scale" - so "really few artisan cheeses are exported" as an outcome.

"I don't know if misconstrued is the right word - I think it's simply unidentified. I do not understand if it is simply going to stay our little secret over here in the US.

"The word is going to get out when people taste it - that's how it spreads out. I think it will take a very long time for it to just roll of the tongue with the attraction that French cheese does."