Consolidating the cheese: Columbia Cheese in Long Island City/NY

Long Island City ain’t Brooklyn, and it certainly ain’t gentrified. Walking north from Williamsburg, you soon leave the condos with pet-grooming salons and the waves of freshly roasted coffee behind, and once you pass Broadway Stages, you’re in a different world. Ten years ago, Adam Moskowitz tells me, this was a dangerous area. Five years ago, there still weren’t any sidewalks. Today, it continues to be a male dominated world. Its main feature: trucks, of all sizes and all sorts. Trucks are also what Adam’s business is built on: Larkin is a warehouse specializing in food of all kinds. And food of a special kind: Adam’s special little pet business under the Larkin roof is Columbia Cheese. » Weiterlesen…

HeinzelCheeseTalk no 14: America! Friday, June 12th, 2015

Those of you who know me well will certainly remember that my great cheese awakening moment occurred in the US. At the 2001 Slow Food Cheese in Bra/Piedmont I attended a class with American goat and sheep milk cheeses, moderated by Rob Kaufelt of Murray’s Cheese in New York. Full of arrogant prejudice I thought it would be a joke… » Weiterlesen…

Meet me in NYC: May 21, 2015 with the Culinary Historians of New York at the National Arts Council

Gramercy Park in May meant cherry blossoms were long over, but the green oh so lush when I was invited for a Heinzelcheese talk and tasting at the venerable association of Culinary Historians of New York, hosting me at the formidable National Arts Club. With a group of 80 (!) we explored German food history and discussed some of the changes in German cheese making as well as Riesling. » Weiterlesen…

Käse-Menschen: Anne Saxelby in New York City

Anne Saxelbys Geschichte ist journalistischer Traumstoff und deshalb auch schon ziemlich oft erzählt worden. Aber genau davon leben Geschichten, vom Erzähltwerden, immer wieder, und immer noch einmal… Also: eine schöne junge Frau zieht aus einem Vorort von Chicago fürs Kunststudium nach New York City und arbeitet danach in Galerien und Museen. Doch das so glamourös klingende Leben gefällt ihr nicht wirklich. Die Kunst-Welt ist ihr im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes zu gekünstelt und abgehoben, und sie beschließt, von Gemälden und Skulpturen auf Wein und Käse umzusatteln. » Weiterlesen…

Cheese people: Anne Saxelby of New York City

Anne Saxelby’s story is a journo’s dream and has therefore been told many times. But hey, don’t stories become alive that way, by being told again, and again, and again? So here we go… A beautiful young woman from the Chicago suburbs moves to New York City to study art, and subsequently works at galleries and as a museum intern. However, none of these so glamourous sounding things really appeal. The art world seems too precious to her. So she has a rethink, and decides to swap paintings and sculptures with cheese and wine. » Weiterlesen…

Riesling and more at the Dr Frank estate on Keuka Lake/Finger Lakes, NY

Here I am, touring Upstate New York talking to students at various colleges about the joys of real cheese, book writing and German history – it’s an honor to be able to gently push some of you guys into a direction you might not have thought existed before we met!  Reminds me of the affinage process, when cheeses are gently guided to mature into something the cheese“maker“ has done a lot to get to, but can never be totally sure will happen in the end. Takes a lot of listening and attention and dedication, in both cases. All this to say that I’ve been in total cheese mode, with wine down the priority list, to :“stuff to drink and enjoy“ » Weiterlesen…

April 28 & 29, 2014: Meet me at the Bedford Cheese Shop in NYC!

I’m happy, proud and so excited to announce that I’ll be hosting two classes (yes, two!) at the glorious Bedford Cheese Shop of Brooklyn fame in New York on April 28 and 29. They run from 6.30 till 8.30pm and represent the culminating point of a row of talks, tastings and events that month. It’s all to celebrate my new book, a history of food in Germany ( » Weiterlesen…