No Access Cheese Cultures: Transforming American Tastes and Traditions
Name
cheese cultures gastronomica.pdf
Size
909.31 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
acdd9b07a2780cfff969aef99be7d283
Author(s)
Paxson, Heather Anne
Date Issued
September 2010
Journal
Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture
Publisher
University of California Press
Citation
Paxson, Heather. "Cheese Cultures: Transforming American Tastes and Traditions." Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture 10.4 (2010): 35-47.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Although the history of cheesemaking in the United States tells largely a tale of industrialization, there is a submerged yet continuous history of small-batch, hands-on, artisan cheese manufacture. This tradition, carried on in artisan cheese factories across the country, although concentrated in Wisconsin, is often overlooked by a new generation of artisan cheesemakers. Continuities in fabrication methods shared by preindustrial and post-industrial artisan creameries have been obscured by changes in the organization and significance of artisan production over the last one hundred years. Making cheese by hand has morphed from chore to occupation to vocation; from economic trade to expressive endeavor; from a craft to an art. American artisan cheesemaking tradition was invented and reinvented as a tradition of innovation. Indeed, ideological commitment to innovation as modern, progressive, American—and thus a marketable value—further obscures continuities between past and present, artisan factories, and new farmstead production. The social disconnect between the current artisan movement and American's enduring cheesemaking tradition reproduces class hierarchies even as it reflects growing equity in gendered occupational opportunities.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Anthropology Program
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2010.10.4.35
