Cheese is alive, and alive with meaning. Heather Paxson’s beautifully written anthropological study of American artisanal cheesemaking tells the story of how craftwork has become a new source of cultural and economic value for producers as well as consumers. Dairy farmers and artisans inhabit a world in which their colleagues and collaborators are a wild cast of characters, including plants, animals, microorganisms, family members, employees, and customers. As “unfinished” commodities, living products whose qualities are not fully settled, handmade cheeses embody a mix of new and old ideas about taste and value. By exploring the life of cheese, Paxson helps rethink the politics of food, land, and labor today.
Contents :
1. American Artisanal
2. Ecologies of Production
3. Economies of Sentiment
4. Traditions of Invention
5. The Art and Science of Craft
6. Microbiopolitics
7. Place, Taste, and the Promise of Terroir
8. Bellwether
Order the book
Food 2.0 LAB in association with Amazon
Books by the same author –
