We wanted to take a moment to celebrate English cheese. The makers, the craft, and the landscapes behind it.
Angus D. Birditt spent years visiting and documenting dairies across the British Isles - photographing, writing, and sitting with the people who make our cheese. The result was A Portrait of British Cheese, a book that captures something you don't often see: the real, day-to-day texture of a life in cheesemaking.
We caught up with Angus to talk about England specifically - what surprised him, what he thinks the industry does well, what it still struggles with, and what he'd put on his cheeseboard right now from our English selection.
A Portrait of British Cheese was a product of years of visits, photographs, and conversations with makers. Now that you have some distance from it, is there anything you feel the book captured that you didn't expect it to?
It's been four years since A Portrait of British Cheese has been published, which is truly remarkable to think it's been that long, and probably another four years since the idea grew, so it's been an amazing time to see it grow into something I'm really proud of.
I knew from the outset the passion, craft and knowledge of our cheesemakers, so that didn't surprise me, but perhaps the one thing that did, was how beautiful the locations were where the cheesemakers lived and worked. Locations like the Isle of Mull, snug hills of Suffolk, coombes in Somerset, seaviews in Cornwall; we have some pretty stunning places within these isles and our cheesemakers certainly know where to go!
England has an extraordinary range - ancient territorial cheeses, raw milk revivals, makers doing genuinely new things with old styles. Did England surprise you?
Having worked for many regenerative and sustainable farming charities, I've come to have a real admiration for farmers producing and selling raw milk. There is an incredible passion and dedication that goes into producing it. Besides that, I also love the history of cheese, and reading about England, especially before the 1900s, it was a country with thousands of individual raw milk farmhouse cheesemakers.
So, with those two aspects in mind, I think for me when writing the book, England's unpasteurised, raw milk cheeses really impressed me - your Appleby's Cheshire, Westcombe Cheddar, Stonebeck Wensleydale, Doddington - these farmhouse cheesemakers not only focus on producing an outstanding final cheese, they also farm and manage the land to the highest levels of food and farming standards.
Cheddar - is the name a help or a hindrance at this point?
Throughout recent cheese history, terminology in the cheese world has been a contested subject. 'Farmhouse', 'traditional', 'West Country', 'Real' are just some of the terms that have been abused and misused over time. The way I see it for Cheddar, is that it is a help in the sense that people are actually acknowledging it as a style of cheese. But on the other hand, the general term of 'Cheddar' doesn't really help to distinguish between handmade farmhouse and large-scale factory made cheese.
I live in Wales, and the Welsh Food & Drink sector has been very helpful to small producers, especially to those looking to promote traditional food & drink. I'd like to see an England Food & Drink government body helping proper farmhouse producers like Cheddar makers to distinguish them apart from their more industrial counterparts - thankfully the Guild of Fine Food does an amazing job promoting good cheese from their bases in London and Dorset. For me, in order to create this distinction between farmhouse and factory-made Cheddars, it's all about storytelling. The stories of these farmhouse cheesemakers, narrating their artistry and dedication to their craft is what can set them apart from other more forms of Cheddar.
That idea of terroir - do you think British cheese is getting better at telling the story?
The term 'terroir' is a hot topic in food writing, should or shouldn't we use it? Is there a better term? How I see it, is that if we do use the term 'terroir' (connecting product to place and people) then farmhouse cheese is a perfect example. I mean, how could you get closer to the 'sense of terroir' than with a farmhouse cheesemaker using raw milk and local native breed animals?
When I host cheese talks, I always state this fact when sampling a farmhouse cheese and you immediately see the light bulb moment in their faces. There are some incredible cheesemongers - like Rennet & Rind - promoting this idea of terroir. For the general consumer, we definitely need to support and share the idea more in the British artisan farmhouse cheese industry.
How much do you think maturation is understood or appreciated by cheese buyers?
The maturation of cheese is utterly fascinating, and again something that needs to be shared and aired to the wider public. It is an aspect of cheese that you'll constantly be learning about. Well, cheese in general, you'll always find that you are learning everyday. What I love about the maturation of cheese is that you can be loosely involved in it (knowing the simple stages of it) or you can be super geeky about it (getting into the minute details of humility, salinity, air flow, location, bacteria, microbes, yeasts, moulds, techniques, treatments, etc.).
Maybe there is a balance between simple and super geeky which we can broadcast to the wider public to get them knowing about this special stage of cheesemaking. That's what I've essentially tried to do in A Portrait of British Cheese, a little something for everyone to learn whether you are just getting into cheese or an expert.
Graham Kirkham said "every piece of cheese is a part of history." Are there English cheeses where you felt that thread of history most strongly?
Many of the artisan cheesemakers I've visited have the most amazing histories. With many farmhouse cheesemakers especially, their farms have echoes of their past, with 18th Century farming ploughs or Victorian cheese presses - many makers still use these cheese presses even today. It is clear from exploring these farms that their history involved not just cheese production but mixed farming with chickens, pigs and cereals grown alongside their dairy enterprises.
I loved the centuries-old stories from those like the Appleby's, but I was also intrigued by the more recent histories of cheesemakers like Hafod and Caws Teifi, both makers moved to South Wales at the end of the 20th Century inspired by the Woodstock vibes of self-sufficiency. Get them round a roaring fire with a dram of whiskey and they'll tell you some great stories, I can tell you.
How do you read the health of English artisan cheesemaking today?
The energy towards buying artisan cheese during the pandemic was absolutely incredible. Since then, from what I gather, the general knowledge of artisan cheese has improved, for example, in acknowledging how diverse and great our selection of artisan cheese is - I think we have over 1000 different varieties now if I'm correct. We also have thriving cheesemongers - like Rennet & Rind - promoting our brilliant selection of cheeses. And if supermarkets are anything to go by, they are selling more artisan cheeses that will reach a wider audience which is positive as well.
I'd love to see our culture reflecting countries like Switzerland, where cheese is central to their way of life. When I went to Bern to judge the World Cheese Awards (alongside your very own Perry), I was taken back by how proud and present their styles of cheeses were as you walked down the streets - trams were decorated with Emmental rinds in the city centre and even the McDonald's had a limited edition Gruyère burger. That is like the UK having a Westcombe Cheddar Mac!
Do you think consumers are getting better at understanding why buying from cheesemongers matters?
It's difficult with the cost of living to push the message of buying artisan cheese to the wider public as it is more expensive than supermarket and factory made cheese. But I'm always saying it's a treat, something to enjoy, like you would a pint or a burger. Again I go back to storytelling, and once you relay that message of why it is the cost it is, invariably the consumer will understand the work and craft that has gone into it.
Consumers will only truly understand these important aspects if they go straight to cheesemongers and the farm gate to buy their dairy product.
Could you build us an English cheeseboard from your current R&R favourites?
Oh great question. And what a selection you have as well! I would say, to have a good diversity I'll take a soft, semi-firm, hard and blue for my cheeseboard.
1. Pyghtle would be my soft choice, its texture is to die for, fudgey and mousse-like and full of fresh yogurt flavours.
2. Ashcombe would be my semi-firm choice, a soft, supple cheese with the most addictive sweet milky flavours and a chewy washed-rind.
3. Appleby's would be my hard choice on the cheeseboard, I think delicate flavoured cheeses are something to champion this year and going forward, this has blissful fresh lactic salty notes.
4. Young Buck for my blue, to keep supporting those raw milk producers. Mike Thomson, who I visited in Northern Ireland for the book, makes Young Buck, a rich creamy blue that sits very well on any cheeseboard.
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A Portrait of British Cheese by Angus D. Birditt is available from Rennet & Rind.