Overview

In little more than a century, industrial practices have altered every aspect of the cheesemaking process, from the bodies of the animals that provide the milk to the microbial strains that ferment it. Reinventing the Wheel explores what has been lost as raw-milk, single-farm cheeses have given way to the juggernaut of factory production. In the process, distinctiveness and healthy rural landscapes have been exchanged for higher yields and monoculture, but Bronwen and Francis Percival find reason for optimism. Around the world-not just in France, but also in the United States, England, and Australia-enterprising cheesemakers are exploring the techniques of their great-grandparents. At the same time, using sophisticated molecular methods, scientists are upending conventional wisdom about the role of microbes in every part of the world around us. Their research reveals the resilience and complexity of the indigenous microbial communities that contribute to the flavor and safety of cheese. One experiment at a time, these dynamic scientists, cheesemakers, and dairy farmers are reinventing the wheel.

Full Product Details

9780520290150

Table of Contents

Reviews

Imperative reading for anyone who wants to understand why a small number of cheeses are extraordinary. --The Art of Eating The book isn't light reading, but if you are interested in artisan vs. commercial cheese production, microbes as fairy godmothers and evil witches, and raw milk vs. pasteurized milk, you'll come away with a much more nuanced approach to all three topics. --Wanderlust and Words Book of the Year 2017 --Wine & Spirits (10/01/2017) Provides input that is as valuable to a contemporary wine drinker as it may be to anyone interested in delicious cheese, or in personal health. --Wine & Spirits (10/01/2017) Combines scientific rigor, commercial expertise and passionate connoisseurship. --The Street (10/01/2017) Part manifesto, part history and part reference book, this summary of modern cheese-making will appeal equally to microbiologists, cheese aficionados, farmers and cheesemakers. --Microbiology Today (02/13/2018) Not since Harold McGee's monumental 'On Food and Cooking' (1984) and Sandor Katz's masterly 'The Art of Fermentation' (2012) have I enjoyed and learned so much as I did from the Percivals' book. --The Wall Street Journal (09/29/2017) This book should convince anyone that the making of wondrous cheeses is a science as well as an art. --Food Politics

Book of the Year 2017 --Wine & Spirits (10/01/2017) Provides input that is as valuable to a contemporary wine drinker as it may be to anyone interested in delicious cheese, or in personal health. --Wine & Spirits (10/01/2017) Imperative reading for anyone who wants to understand why a small number of cheeses are extraordinary. --The Art of Eating Combines scientific rigor, commercial expertise and passionate connoisseurship. --The Street (10/01/2017) The book isn't light reading, but if you are interested in artisan vs. commercial cheese production, microbes as fairy godmothers and evil witches, and raw milk vs. pasteurized milk, you'll come away with a much more nuanced approach to all three topics. --Wanderlust and Words Part manifesto, part history and part reference book, this summary of modern cheese-making will appeal equally to microbiologists, cheese aficionados, farmers and cheesemakers. --Microbiology Today (02/13/2018) This book should convince anyone that the making of wondrous cheeses is a science as well as an art. --Food Politics Not since Harold McGee's monumental 'On Food and Cooking' (1984) and Sandor Katz's masterly 'The Art of Fermentation' (2012) have I enjoyed and learned so much as I did from the Percivals' book. --The Wall Street Journal (09/29/2017)

The book isn't light reading, but if you are interested in artisan vs. commercial cheese production, microbes as fairy godmothers and evil witches, and raw milk vs. pasteurized milk, you'll come away with a much more nuanced approach to all three topics. * Wanderlust and Words * Combines scientific rigor, commercial expertise and passionate connoisseurship. * The Street * Imperative reading for anyone who wants to understand why a small number of cheeses are extraordinary. * The Art of Eating * This book should convince anyone that the making of wondrous cheeses is a science as well as an art. * Food Politics * Not since Harold McGee's monumental `On Food and Cooking' (1984) and Sandor Katz's masterly `The Art of Fermentation' (2012) have I enjoyed and learned so much as I did from the Percivals' book. * The Wall Street Journal * Provides input that is as valuable to a contemporary wine drinker as it may be to anyone interested in delicious cheese, or in personal health. * Wine & Spirits * Book of the Year 2017 * Wine & Spirits *

Combines scientific rigor, commercial expertise and passionate connoisseurship. * The Street * Imperative reading for anyone who wants to understand why a small number of cheeses are extraordinary. * The Art of Eating * This book should convince anyone that the making of wondrous cheeses is a science as well as an art. * Food Politics * Not since Harold McGee's monumental `On Food and Cooking' (1984) and Sandor Katz's masterly `The Art of Fermentation' (2012) have I enjoyed and learned so much as I did from the Percivals' book. * The Wall Street Journal * Provides input that is as valuable to a contemporary wine drinker as it may be to anyone interested in delicious cheese, or in personal health. * Wine & Spirits * Book of the Year 2017 * Wine & Spirits *

Provides input that is as valuable to a contemporary wine drinker as it may be to anyone interested in delicious cheese, or in personal health. --Wine & Spirits (10/01/2017) Imperative reading for anyone who wants to understand why a small number of cheeses are extraordinary. --The Art of Eating Combines scientific rigor, commercial expertise and passionate connoisseurship. --The Street (10/01/2017) Book of the Year 2017 --Wine & Spirits (10/01/2017) The book isn't light reading, but if you are interested in artisan vs. commercial cheese production, microbes as fairy godmothers and evil witches, and raw milk vs. pasteurized milk, you'll come away with a much more nuanced approach to all three topics. --Wanderlust and Words Part manifesto, part history and part reference book, this summary of modern cheese-making will appeal equally to microbiologists, cheese aficionados, farmers and cheesemakers. --Microbiology Today (02/13/2018) This book should convince anyone that the making of wondrous cheeses is a science as well as an art. --Food Politics Not since Harold McGee's monumental 'On Food and Cooking' (1984) and Sandor Katz's masterly 'The Art of Fermentation' (2012) have I enjoyed and learned so much as I did from the Percivals' book. --The Wall Street Journal (09/29/2017)

Part manifesto, part history and part reference book, this summary of modern cheese-making will appeal equally to microbiologists, cheese aficionados, farmers and cheesemakers. * Microbiology Today * The book isn't light reading, but if you are interested in artisan vs. commercial cheese production, microbes as fairy godmothers and evil witches, and raw milk vs. pasteurized milk, you'll come away with a much more nuanced approach to all three topics. * Wanderlust and Words * Combines scientific rigor, commercial expertise and passionate connoisseurship. * The Street * Imperative reading for anyone who wants to understand why a small number of cheeses are extraordinary. * The Art of Eating * This book should convince anyone that the making of wondrous cheeses is a science as well as an art. * Food Politics * Not since Harold McGee's monumental `On Food and Cooking' (1984) and Sandor Katz's masterly `The Art of Fermentation' (2012) have I enjoyed and learned so much as I did from the Percivals' book. * The Wall Street Journal * Provides input that is as valuable to a contemporary wine drinker as it may be to anyone interested in delicious cheese, or in personal health. * Wine & Spirits * Book of the Year 2017 * Wine & Spirits *

Author Information

Bronwen Percival is the cheese buyer at Neal's Yard Dairy in London. She initiated the biennial Science of Artisan Cheese Conference and is cofounder of the website microbialfoods.org. In addition to serving on the editorial board of the Oxford Companion to Cheese, she recently edited an English translation of the leading French textbook on raw-milk microbiology for cheesemakers. Francis Percival writes on food and wine for The World of Fine Wine and was named Louis Roederer International Wine Columnist of the Year in 2013 and Pio Cesare Wine and Food Writer of the Year 2015. His work has also appeared in Culture, Decanter, Saveur, and the Financial Times. Together with Bronwen, he cofounded the London Gastronomy Seminars.

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