Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge

by Gordon Edgar

Paperback, 2010

Status

Available

Call number

HD9280.U62 E34

Description

Witty and irreverent, informative and provocative, Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge is the highly readable story of Gordon Edgar's unlikely career as a cheesemonger at San Francisco's worker-owned Rainbow Grocery Cooperative. A former punk-rock political activist, Edgar bluffed his way into his cheese job knowing almost nothing, but quickly discovered a whole world of amazing artisan cheeses. There he developed a deep understanding and respect for the styles, producers, animals, and techniques that go into making great cheese. With a refreshingly unpretentious sensibility, Edgar intertwines his own life story with his ongoing love affair with cheese, and offers readers an unflinching, highly entertaining on-the-ground look at America's growing cheese movement. From problem customers to animal rights, business ethics to taste epiphanies, this book offers something for everyone, including cheese profiles and recommendations for selecting the very best-not just the most expensive-cheeses from the United States and around the world and a look at the struggles dairy farmers face in their attempts to stay on and make their living from the land. Edgar-a smart, progressive cheese man with an activist's edge-enlightens and delights with his view of the world from behind the cheese counter and his appreciation for the skill and tradition that go into a good wedge of Morbier. Cheesemonger is the first book of its kind-a cheese memoir with attitude and information that will appeal to everyone from serious foodies to urban food activists.… (more)

Publication

Chelsea Green Publishing (2010), Edition: 1st, 256 pages

Tags

cooking, memoir

Genres

ISBN

1603582371 / 9781603582377

Collection

Biography--CT

Language

English

Original language

English

Physical description

9.02 inches

Rating

½ (14 ratings; 4)

User reviews

LibraryThing member ben_h
I've been reading a lot of foodie books lately, and have decided that there are two main categories. There's a type of writing that is extra-precious, and tries really hard to romanticize eating, cooking, back-to-the-land goat raising, etc. Then there are books like this one, written by real people
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 about their honest, unpretentious love of something. Gordon Edgar is a great antidote to foodie snobbery. Not only is Cheesemonger a funny and endearing story of an ordinary bloke's developing relationship with cheese, it's an education and an inspiration to seek out new experiences in eating. Some of the cheese recommendations are a bit pricey, but Edgar doesn't scorn honest workaday cheeses within the reach of the average shopper. Packed with anecdotes about both the "insiders" world of cheese marketing and the shoppers and employees of the Rainbow Grocery, a worker-owned cooperative in San Francisco, Cheesemonger is an entertaining read. Well worth it!
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LibraryThing member flemmily
This being a book that people kept telling me was good, my contrary little soul was reluctant to give it chance. But it was so good!!! Granted, a lot of the reason I like it is probably because of my own experience; this book is about working in cheese/natural foods/service in San Francisco, and
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 that is a large portion of my own work experience. If you don't have this experience and ever wanted to know what it's like, this book will let you know.
Here are some of the things I liked about it:
+the way his three identities: cheesemonger, co-op worker, and punk, interact with each other as metaphors and life history
+his thinking about the weird relationship between urban foodies (or just urban people who like to eat) and rural farmers
+his debunking of cheese snobbery
+the way he talks about cheese stories - they are both the thing that makes the food so fascinating and the marketing that sucks the authenticity out of the deliciousness
+his assessment of service workers as the new front lines in social service to crazies (since Reagan killed the support systems)
+the honest and caring thinking about how to be an ethical, caring, urban human in a disconnected and confusing society

I devoured this book in one afternoon, which is rare for me with non-fiction. Although I must say, I was a little disappointed by his aversion to fart jokes. Cheesemonger fart jokes are almost always funny, in my opinion, although the joker-maker may not be.
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LibraryThing member satyridae
Very enjoyable foray into both cheese and Edgar's value system. He's an unreconstructed punk rocker with a job in an employee-owned grocery store in San Francisco's Mission District. What's not to love about any of that, if you're me?

Whole vistas of undiscovered cheeses spread themselves out in
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 front of me after reading this book, but more importantly, I came away with a better knowledge of the cheesemonger's life. Any retail life is fraught with moments which are hilarious only in hindsight, and Edgar's is no exception. He's an extraordinarily gentle man, so the tales from retail hell are tinged with more understanding and compassion than is usual. He's also mordantly witty.

Nicely done memoir is a bit repetitive in spots, but very well worth reading.
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LibraryThing member aylin1
I know this book will probably make me eat a bunch of cheese which I probably don't need.... but I may have to risk it ; )
LibraryThing member Othemts
Edgar wanted so much to gain employment at a San Francisco worker's cooperative that he applied for a job in the cheese department despite not knowing much about cheese. This memoir/manifesto tells of his two decades learning about cheese, visiting farms, attending conferences, and dealing with
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 customers. Edgar draws on his past in punk rock to explore the community and ethics of the cheese world. This may be the least pretentious book about cheese possible, and I enjoyed reading Edgar's stories and opinions. I'm also hungry for some cheese.
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LibraryThing member jennybeast
I think I would have really loved each of the essays in this book on their own. As a collection it starts to be overly repetitive. I found Gordon's life and his values to be interesting, strong, delightful, and unusual -- I had never thought about what it would be like to work in a worker-owned
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 co-op store. I enjoyed reading about the thoughtful path that led him there, and about his flowering from cheese enthusiasm to cheese expert. I liked his descriptions of the various cheeses and farmers. I wrote down a list of cheeses to try -- all in all, a success! But it was also kind of a slog to read straight through - it felt like a collection of essays rather than a cohesive autobiography.
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LCC

HD9280.U62 E34

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