By Perry Wakeman, Affineur, Rennet & Rind
I've spent the best part of June going up and down the country.
Judging at the Affineur of the Year awards. Sitting on the super jury for the Virtual Cheese Awards. Four days at Gardeners' World Live on Adam Frost's Tasting Table, talking to the public about what affinage actually is and why it matters to British cheese. Visiting farms. Calling in on cheesemongers we supply.
Adam Frost's Tasting Table, Gardeners' World Live
And you'll have to take my word for it, but the cheesemakers I've met along the way really are something. The hard work. The entrepreneurship. The collaboration. The dedication to their staff, their farm, their people. There are no shareholders. It's usually just a family, making ends meet, investing in their local communities. It's incredible, and I don't say that lightly.
Mary Quicke, Quicke's Farm, Devon - family cheesemakers since 1540
The conversation that kept coming up
But the same conversation kept coming up everywhere I went.
The high street.
Everyone can see it happening. Shops closing, boards going up, towns going quiet. People put it down to rates, rent, tax - and yes, all of that is a factor. But I think there's something bigger at play, and it's harder to talk about because it lands a bit closer to home.
Supermarkets.
I get asked one question more than any other: "If you were in a supermarket, what cheese would you buy?" My answer is always the same - none.
Not because supermarket cheese is the worst thing in the world. But because when you buy cheese from a supermarket, you don't buy it from your local cheesemonger. When you buy meat from the chiller aisle, your butcher loses a sale. When you grab bread from aisle three, your baker doesn't see you that week. Do that often enough, and one day you look up and they're gone.
I get it. We all need supermarkets - nobody's doing their whole weekly shop at a farm gate. But don't be under any illusion. The more you spend with them, the less your high street thrives. That isn't rates doing that. That's us.
The maturation rooms
Places like ours still exist
Standing at the Tasting Table at Gardeners' World Live, I spent four days explaining to people what an affineur does - how we select, mature, and care for cheese in our own rooms until it's ready. And the thing that surprised people most wasn't the process. It was that places like ours still exist. That there are people behind the cheese. That it doesn't just appear on a shelf.
I know, I'm on my soapbox again. If you ever speak to me you'll find I tend to gravitate towards this conversation - relentlessly, if I'm honest. But I've felt it more than ever this last month. Convenience is what will kill the high street. Not rates. Not rent. Convenience.
And look, I'm probably preaching to the choir here. You already support us, and I'm grateful for that. But I think it's important to say it. Say it out loud. So that when you shop with us, or with someone on your high street, you feel a little more proud that you did.
- Perry