It’s not about mushrooms….but it could be

Finally I enter the blog-o-sphere! It has been a year since I quit my desk job to follow my passion for cheese and in that time I have managed to traverse the country meeting many cheesemakers and tasted as much cheese as possible! I’ve made some delicious (and not so delicious!) cheese at home – including my latest Italian ‘Bra’ style semi-hard cheese, which I’m slightly scared to try due to not quite being able to identify the lovely moulds that have grown on the rind! I’ve studied the entire suite of cheese related courses at the National Centre for Dairy Education and participated in the Dairy Australia Cheese Scholarship Program, which were a good starter in formalising my cheese education but have just made me very hungry to learn more. I’ve worked and/or volunteered with a range of fabulous producers including Red Hill Cheese, Holy Goat, That’s Amore, Yarra Valley Dairy, La Casa del Formaggio and I love my regular gig selling cheese on behalf of Red Hill Cheese at farmers markets.

I’ve learned so much about cheese and the industry in Australia and around the world and have decided to set up this blog to share my learnings!

Taking some time off to follow my passion has allowed me to learn so much about myself and my value system. I’ve realised those that I admire most are people who are passionate about what they do and committed to achieving the best possible results through diligent hard work and respect for those around them – be it the people /animals they work with or the customers they serve.

This week I went to a cooking class hosted by Matthew Donelly from the Commoner. I was fascinated to learn about mushroom foraging and enthralled that Matt currently makes a living out of picking these delicious morsels! Matt’s passion and dedication in explaining where to find and how to cook ‘pine mushrooms’ and ‘slippery jacks’ inspired me to get started on the blog I’ve been meaning to write for a while – one that is dedicated to sharing my knowledge, thoughts and questions in relation to food (and in particular cheese), and highlighting producers and products that are made sustainably and with respect.

It’s not necessarily about mushrooms…but it could be!