You have to like where you are, maybe you do not like what brought you there, maybe you do not appreciate some of the circumstances that brought you there, but you have to like where you are, and you have to like what you do.
I have had some reflection time recently about my personal history, and by this, I mean what made me, my formative years, and I have learnt that people, and even more sometimes your family, do not allow you a personal perspective but will judge you from their own, and sometimes very biased, history. This means that when you speak to open-minded people, you can have a conversation that is meaningful and will bring results. I know that this is very difficult to achieve and that you need to be open yourself, and that you need to listen as well. Of course, this needs to be the case on both sides to work.
An interesting market.
I arrived in England in 1991, the first Gulf war was not over yet and the country was in recession and the Troubles not over as well (there had been a bomb in Victoria Station the year before). I was working in a very nice restaurant near Buckingham Palace, a French restaurant with exceptional customers, ministers as well as MPs and guests from the Home Office, New Scotland Yard, or the Palace. It took me six months to settle before I moved on to take charge of the cheese trolley.
The cheese market at that time was about ten years old for the new English cheeses which were mostly well made, there was only a few exceptions on that score, and this was dominated by the French cheeses with a few Italians and Dutch.
Cheeses getting ready for distribution to England
Since then, the market of English cheeses has progressed dramatically number-wise. This do not mean that all is good. Many creations have been due to the milk market and its value, meaning that to bring revenue to the farm the best way was to make cheese, or to adapt the quality of the milk produced to interest the local artisan cheesemaker. Many years ago, I was presented with quite a few of these cheeses, made by artisans in the south or west of England, and I was not impressed by the end result once matured. I even tried to give feedback to the producers but this was not received well, one of them even almost refrained from laughing out loud! I can understand that it is not pleasant to be told that there is a possibility of a default in your cheese (and then I was pointing out that the mature cheese was giving a feel of cellulose akin to paper), but I was in a national salon attracting mainly professionals and locals. So, once again, it is difficult for people to be open minded when talking to people that they do not know.
Anyway, I recently tasted this cheese again after so many years, and they have not changed the ferments, the taste is still there. At the same salon I met two great people from the world of English cheese, the founder of Neals Yard Dairy and the man behind the revival of the Gloucester cow and the Stinking Bishop. I managed to convey my satisfaction to both and was invited to visit the shop and business in London. I took this opportunity gladly at the end of the year, after Christmas obviously, and I was glad to be shown around and entertained by My Hodgson, this was a treat.
So, here we are at the third generation of the new English cheesemakers since the revival. The scene is still varied, and the proof of the pudding resides in the fact that some of them are still going strong from the first generation. Some of these have had children taking over while some of them went to companies, but they all mostly kept the quality going. The number of chesemakers is still growing and the market is active. One of the factors that benefit the actual situation is the selling price of the cheeses at the moment. They are slightly higher that their continental equivalent even though they do not have to go through customs and pay the price of transport until they reach their distribution point, well, who said that life was fair?
Still interesting market?
Since Brexit was voted, quite a few years ago before the pandemic and after I started to be involved completely in the cheese business, we have seen quite a few Head Chefs go back to the continent, and this is without talking about the lower echelons.
So, what does that mean? Well, the British Sous-Chefs became Executives Head-Chefs and we have seen a wide policy of promoting home grown products (in fact, nothing wrong with that basically). The situation is to the point that the market was disturbed. Producers were not answering the sudden demand from catering as this was not their market, the selling price means that margin for distributors is not attractive, and with the inevitable increase in production the quality is not necessarily maintained. Nonetheless, we have to answer the market expectations, or we disappear or become irrelevant.
The other interesting point in this market is the ability of the buyers to understand the products. It has been evident for a while that in this country people understand block cheese. This means that people understand cheese that always look fresh and unblemished, and which do not really change in appearance. Well, news for everyone over here, quality artisanal or farmhouse cheese is not made to be exactly always the same, mould naturally occur. Nature in general is diverse, expect the same with cheese!
And when you have moisture, you get mushroom or some kind of growth on the rind, this is NORMAL!!! Many people, be it in shops, be it in hospitality, do not really understand the products as before, they need to be taught, they need to be a bit more open-minded. Brief, as I was told shortly after arriving in this country (see above in the beginning of this article), people need not to be arrogant. The problem with this word is only that it works both way and describes bad communication, and at the same time it describes well the actual situation of the market. You should see some of the comments that we received concerning some completely perfect products.
So, what about the market, really?
Well, I am lucky to work in a place where we deal with good quality products, to say the least… and they are in demand. People still have money for good things, there are still discerning customers over here, no surprise there! So, we are doing well, even for all the points above there are good professionals around, visit your local cheese shop, try different things and find something that you like, then try to understand the product if interested.
Most people enjoy where they are as they should, most people have grown with their knowledge, most people should be able to expend and open their mind to new things. Embrace the diverse…
And remember, give life to your taste buds, and above all, enjoy real cheese.
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