A Portrait of British Cheese: A Celebration of Artistry, Regionality and Recipes

Product Information

The countryside is where I find most of my inspiration for writing, photographing, curating and, well, eating! Farming forms the building blocks of food, and in terms of cheese, it’s the foundation for determining the quality of milk used for cheesemaking. This book highlights the wonderful diversity of people, scales and skills which characterise and bind together the emergent community of UK artisan cheese makers.

Through interviews, stories, recipes and photography, the book celebrates how British cheese is profoundly connected to the land, farm animals and people involved in making it. An exploration of the people, processes, stories and histories behind the incredible cheese made in the British Isles, A Portrait of British Cheese is a beautiful, thoughtful book that charts 30 farmhouse cheesemakers around the UK. What I found fascinating about artisan cheese is how many different varieties you can have from the same initial product, milk (which, of course, is so complex in itself). Farmhouse cheesemakers are also increasing the diversity of pasture their animals are grazing to see whether it affects the final flavour of the cheese.With the recent challenges faced by small cheesemakers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this book is a timely reminder of the importance of supporting local, artisanal cheesemakers. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Full of personal stories, warmth and admiration, Angus teases out just what makes British cheese so special.

Through his essays, many photos and recipes, Angus brings to life the joys and challenges of cheesemaking in 21st century Britain, and shows how each of us can play our own small part in keeping alive this important part of our culinary and agricultural heritage.

I have always lived in the countryside, either in rural Cambridgeshire throughout my childhood, surrounded by arable fields and mixed woodlands, or in North Wales after university, where I really started to take foraging seriously and experience new landscapes and wildlife. Ultimately, Our Isles is a platform to explore and appreciate subjects like artisan and regional food, nature, rural history and heritage. Darker than' is Tanmay's collection of handmade clothes inspired by his response to the changing landscape and light of Seven Sisters in East Sussex. With A Portrait of British Cheese, I wanted to celebrate the excellence of cheese in the British Isles. Factors like the health of the soil and the welfare and diet of the animals are things to consider in this case.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.From Lincolnshire Poacher to Stichelton (the original Stilton), Britain's own Brie in the form of Baron Bigod from Suffolk, to Brefu Bach sheep's milk cheese from Snowdonia and Appleby's Cheshire cheese from the heart of Shropshire, this unique journey through photos, essays and recipes, revealing the joys and challenges of a life in cheesemaking. For the making side of cheese, timings, temperatures, length of making, milk handling, weather conditions, among many more variables, all affect the make. The following words extracted from longer poems and accompanying photography attempt to capture the immense beauty, fragility and mysteriousness of our Isles. According to the cheesemaker’s preferences, aspects such as humidity, salinity, airflow and temperature are controlled to mature their cheese. Cheese, perhaps more so than any other food product, can help us understand the magnitude of love and labour that goes into making the food that we eat.

Birditt visits and documents dairies all over the British Isles, to look at the food, people and landscapes dedicated to cheeses. I love trying regional food and travelling to different regions in the British Isles, so artisan cheese seemed to be the perfect food product that expressed the former and allowed me the excuse to travel.

They have been organic since the 1970s and now produce one of the best Cheddars out there – check them out! Angus has captured it all so beautifully in his photos and words and Lilly’s illustrations are perfect as always. Hi book is a celebration and record of his journey across the British Isles visiting 30 small scale Cheesemakers to discover their unique traditions and histories.