01 October 2020
We are thrilled that Waterstones has chosen the incheddarble A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles as their Book of the Month
Ned Palmer’s career began at Borough Market in the winter of 2000 when he ate a piece of cheese. The cheese was Trethowan’s Gorwydd Caerphilly and its maker got Ned his job at Neal’s Yard Dairy.
He stayed there for eight years, washing, rubbing, patting and sometimes singing to the cheeses. In 2014 Ned set up the Cheese Tasting Company to bring cheese to the people through cheese events. Ned has spent much time travelling around Britain and Europe visiting cheesemakers and hearing their stories.
During the pandemic, Ned’s cheesemongery did not go to ground: he’s been a key part of an online movement aiming to keep British cheesemongers afloat, which has been a great success.
A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles was published in hardback in October last year. It’s a fascinating, hugely entertaining book, in which we go on a delicious journey through time and across Britain and Ireland, with the unerringly erudite and charming Ned as our guide. Ned uncovers the histories of beloved old favourites like Cheddar and Wensleydale and fresh innovations like the Irish Cashel Blue or Renegade Monk via a starry line-up of eccentric and engaging characters from the world of cheesemaking.
A Cheesemonger’s History was shortlisted for the André Simon Food and Drink Prize, nominated in the Debut Food Book category in this year’s Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards, and won acclaim from the press. Bee Wilson, writing in The Times, called it ‘A delightful and informative romp through centuries of British cheesemaking … it would make a fine Christmas present, along with a wedge of Sparkenhoe red Leicester’.
So settle down with a chunk of your favourite fromage and dive into the whey-ly incheddarble history of British cheese!