The Book of Cheese: The Essential Guide to Discovering Cheeses You'll Love

Found it! The perfect gift for family and friends who love good food, entertaining, and/or learning new things. The book is full of expert information about hundreds of cheeses, accessibly conveyed via clear writing, interesting charts and sidebars, and beautiful photos (the book’s production values are stunning). Ms. Thorpe’s “gateway” system, her lively style (the book is full of anecdotes about the history and production of various cheeses), and her myriad details about flavors, aromas, and appearance make exploring the world of cheese easy and fun. A great host/hostess gift (pair the book with a special cheese or a gift certificate to a local cheese or wine shop); a great resource for those looking for ideas for cheese-focused menus or events (the book includes suggestions for various food- and drink-pairings); a great read for anyone who wants to know more about the world of cheese. Loved it!

Such a great book! So informative and really covers a great deal for a beginner to the "cheese world". I bought it for my husband as a birthday gift as he is a cheese lover but gets super intimidated at the cheese store when trying to decide what he wants to try & purchase. The detail that this book provides to guide you into the flavor profiles, textures, regions, pairings, origins, etc. which will assist you in finding your way through this culinary area is so helpful I can't even tell you. Buy this book if you are a beginner (or intermediate) cheese lover and it will most definitely calm your artisanal cheese nerves.

If you love cheese, this book is EVERYTHING! Very comprehensive but not overwhelming or snooty. I'm an adventurous cheese eater but I never quite know what to try next, or can never really find something I've been told is good unless I'm in a super-nice cheese store (which is not often.) Ms. Thorpe does a great job of breaking down all the cheese types by chapter, and has fantastic recommendations for all types of "If you really like ____, then you'll probably love ____." Don't skip the intro, either. Liz's backstory in becoming a cheese expert is very interesting and funny, and the intro is also super informative in how to get the most out of the book. The book itself is beautiful, with full-color photography and very aesthetically pleasing page design. Makes a great gift, as it sits perfectly as a coffee table book- I've already ordered several extra copies for friends and family!

Like many others, I love cheese, but didn't have a good framework in my head of categorizing and remembering them. I probably tried to do it by country...Italian cheeses, American cheeses, etc. This idea of using "gateway" cheeses is great and makes it much easier for me to understand how cheeses relate to each other. For example, it never crossed my mind that any of the Mexican cheeses here in south Texas would be in the same family with mozzarella, but they are. Also, many of the French cheeses I love are not available here, but this book helped me figure out what available cheeses would be similar. Very interesting and helpful! The information is very usable.

Game changer! I have been a cheesemonger for 16 years and I have amassed over 60+ books on cheese during that time. Liz Thorpe’s “The Book of Cheese” is the most inventive, creative, and logical way to approach the task of organizing cheese into categories that are easy to understand. Her use of “Gateway Cheeses”, cheeses that are readily available and their tastes commonly known ihas been an “Ah Hah” moment in my mind on how to help describe the gallery of cheeses offered to both my customers and new employees. This book couldn’t have been published 15, 10, or even five years ago. Due to a confluence of more Americans eating cheese as a stand alone food and the increased quality/availability of artisan cheese being made in the U.S. thie timing of this book is perfect. Save your money and start your collection with this book!

This author provides what is necessary for me FIRST, I have got to know basically what kind of cheese we are talking about. Her gateways place the cheeses into the group to which they most closely belong. The designations per country, type of milk, etc. have got to come after I know if it is a Brie, or a Cheddar, or a Swiss, and so on. If I don't know that right off the bat, I cannot proceed. She then provides a wealth of information about each cheese that other books just don't have. I have several other cheese books which I do look at, but I could do without if I had to. This is the one I would never give up.

I really LOVE the way this book is organized. It takes the "if you like/love this, then you'll like/love these" concept so often used with automated purchase recommendations and expands the concept to cheese. It then adds to that foundation with by helping new turophiles learn how describe why they love a particular cheese so they can find others either in the same cheese family or with those same attributes. The main reason it looses a star is the author's early assertion on page 47 that (other than ricotta) it's not worth it to make cheese at home because "purchased cheese will inevitably be better". I've been making cheese at home for more than 10 years and I can say unequivocally this is NOT TRUE. First, homemade cheese is fresher than anything you'll ever be able to purchase other than directly from the maker. That fact alone means it blows supermarket cheeses away instantly and often puts your homemade cheese on par with all but the best cheeses found well stocked cheese sections of specialty markets/coops. Second, since most good cheese sells for $19-$25/lb and typical homemade yield is 1# cheese per a $4/gallon of milk. Imagine getting a whole pound of your favorite cheese for only $4 and some of your time. Couple those two points with the fact that the author continues to decry supermarket cheese in the rest of the book and it's really a no brainer for a turophile to give home cheesemaking a try. What have you got to lose?

I have had exactly one great cheese monger. She was a delight and guided me into new cheese adventures. Sadly her employer, a liquor and wine shop in the Chicago area, decided to shut down his cheese display and she was no longer able to serve her clientele. I have since found other places to buy cheese, but the expertise is lacking even though the selection could be extensive. This guide allows me to be adventuresome and expand my horizons without having to rely on clerks who typically do not have the passion or expertise for the task at hand. This book is both perfect and insightful. I will be gifting my children with copies.

Bought this book as a gift for a cheese lover. Very well received.

👍

It’s a great book, thinking about it, perhaps it could have been better in a smaller size.

Great book for Cheese lovers. Very informative.

I learnt alot as it was easy to understand