How About a Topical Forum on Cheese?

[tangoking]

I think that it deserves its own sub-forum. They have one for wine... why not cheese?

Bump to agree...

[Dave MP]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your patience here. I'm happy to announce that we have a brand new Chowhound Cheese Category! Here's a link: http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/91

Be sure to read the FAQ about this category before you get started: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/882051 and if you have any comments about what belongs/doesn't belong on this category, you can discuss that here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/882053

One thing I'll add here is that everyone should consider this category to be a trial run.....we wanted to try this out because many users have requested it, and we hope it will become a great resource for people who want to talk and read about cheese. Because we are essentially separating these discussions out of General Topics, we'll see if they can still reach a critical mass and wide audience, and if they don't, we may reverse the decision in a few months and bring all the discussion back to General Topics. But we certainly hope that creating this separate category will help foster even more discussion, and it's going to be up to our users to keep it going.

Looking forward to learning all about cheese from everyone here!

Dave MP

[cheesemaestro]

Wow! Thank you for listening to us and for setting this up. Now we have to do our part to keep the discussions lively.

[cheesemaestro]

UPDATE: I received a message from Jacquilynne (head moderator) that our request has been taken under consideration and staff are discussing it. More to come.

[Bacardi1]

I'll happily add another vote to a dedicated cheese forum! :)

[HillJ]

Good for you (& all of us) cheesemaestro. I applaud your follow through.

[ocpitmaster]

New to CHOW, would enjoy & benefit from an educational discussion on Cheese.
For example, as a novice, what's the best way to start a chhese journey?
Thanks

[cheesemaestro]

I just contacted the mods about creating a dedicated cheese forum. I'll let you know what their response is as soon as I receive it. My apologies for the delay. I've been dealing with a minor health issue for the past couple of weeks.

[sunshine842]

and a holiday...and life in general...

No worries.

[cheesehead in recovery]

Yes! I'm no expert, but I have a few small-town cheese stores in WI I support regularly. I would love a cheese forum!

[Caroline1]

Hmmmm... For me, a Cheese Board is something I expect to see at a cocktail party. (But seriously, folks) The problem for me -- and I do not suggest this is true for everyone -- I find discussions about cheeses, as well as magazine articles about them, exercises in extreme frustration. I read about them and they sound fantastic! I go to buy them and it's, "Sorry, we ran out and don't know when we'll get it again EVER," or "You're looking for what?" or "Hey, Boss, there's a broad out here looking for some kinda cheese I never heard of, you wanna come talk to her?" Very rarely its "Yes! You can buy it on our web page and the shipping is only fifty bucks!" Yeah, that's right. The cheese is twenty three bucks a pound and the shipping is fifty bucks. So I live alone, and if I only want four ounces, that makes it $55.75? I don't think so, Charlie!!!!

For me, what works best is just put the blinders on, go to a local cheese shop that's not too far out of my way, and investigate what is available NOW that I can take home with me TODAY! As I said, my method is not necessarily one size fits all... I just get tired of chasing rainbows only to find that the Pot of Gold is a paper pail of chocolate coins, or the Prize at the Rainbow Cheese Shop is Gourmet Cheese Whiz... (curmudge, curmudge, curmudge!)

But if you guys do get a cheese board, and I should luck onto some fantastic lavender laced genuine goat feta from Tajikistan at my local cheesemonger's, I'll be sure to tell you all about it so you can build frustrations to match mine! '-) Love you. ALL of you! Really, I do.

[EM23]

a bump for anything cheese-related

[ipsedixit]

Because wine is a food related category that has a symbiotic relationship with Chowhound's focus on food - much like Cookware or Food & Media.

Cheese, on the other hand, is just food. If there was a board for cheese, then why not one for bread? And another for beans. And one for fruits. And a separate one for beef and just to be fair one for seafood.

Chowhound is a community forum to talk about all things food-related. To parse out it out into such fine gradations would only serve to splinter the community instead of making it a more cohesive collective.

I, for one, would not visit the Cheese board (if one were to be created) but because cheese is discussed throughout Chowhound I get to sample - sometimes by happenstance and sometimes not - the collective wisdom my fellow 'Hounds have to share on cheese.

Moreover Chowhound is organized based on themes related to food (ie, Home Cooking or the various regional boards) not based on food categories like some forums are (eg Roadfood forums).

[HillJ]

Interesting how observations can vary. CHOW and Chowhound have never been more flexible. I no longer see black & white moderation, CHOW content is always changing, site design and engineering busy busy busy and community discussion has been opened to how we feed our pets, special diets, gardening, vegan....the site IS a changing, growing adult.

Cheese would make for an excellent food column, a way to combine the wordsmithing of CH's & CHOW writers with knowledge and questions.

Never say never around here...change brews like your morning coffee.

[sunshine842]

I think the potential is definitely there for a Cheese board (see what I did there? :P ) but I'm a little sceptical that the demand is actually there for it. I can name a dozen posters or so who would definitely be on board, including myself...which isn't all that much less than the headcount of regulars on the Wine board.

But cheese is just food? Wash your mouth out. It's nowhere near the same as steaming vegetables or braising beef shanks.

[HillJ]

The same was said of CH's enjoying/preferring a vegan diet/lifestyle. And it's working out just fine, isn't it? If you build it....they will come.

How we feed our pets under the NAF board is growing in popularity....who knew :)
(notice how I said that).

[ipsedixit]

To say the V&V board is "working out just fine" is a bit overstating it. It's not exactly the most lively board. It's a niche product at best. Like a Tesla in a world of Fords and Hondas.

[Servorg]

Do you think the wine people would, well for lack of another word, whine, if the P that B made it the Wine & Cheese board? Of course that would mean my about to be launched campaign for the "Soup & Sandwich" board would need to be accelerated...

[ipsedixit]

I'd like to nominate a "Junk Food Board".

[Servorg]

I think the "Junkyard Hounds" would bark their approval...

[HillJ]

How about the PTB launch a whine for the whiners board; a virtual grievance area for folks who like to stamp their foot several times a day in frustration.
Virtual wine & cheese could be served...

[HillJ]

ips, it's working out fine for the V&V crowd. Isn't that the point. The CH Team must have thought enough about offering a board to the V&V folks for a reason. You might not use it, but imagine this, we're not the only people here.

[cheesemaestro]

As much as I'm one of the biggest cheesehounds here and would be happy to talk about the glories of my favorite fermented food all day long, I share sunshine's concern that there may not be enough of us to justify a board of our own. To be sure, threads with titles like "What's the best cheddar?" and "I hate goat cheese" elicit a lot of posts, but beyond that, would there be sufficient interest to keep things going?

I'd be all for creating an I Hate Everything board. The goat cheese thread could find a home there, as well as all of the other rants about every conceivable food.

[sunshine842]

+ infinity raised to the power of infinity.

I do, however, totally get the need for the V&V board...but a lifestyle is a little different than a cheese forum.

[HillJ]

True V to V board and a cheese discussion are different. But, sunshine, not all that long ago one or two vegan threads turned into many more and now there is a board. But like I said, a cheese column on CHOW could be interesting. Or, could be one of many topics under a new CHOW column...something like LEARN more about X. There's a good deal of cheese information worth sharing-even if it's not BOARD worthy.

[HillJ]

Forum was the wrong term for what is offered on CH. A board may not be feasible, who knows I don't decide these things but I did offer an alternative suggestion to the OP- a CHOW Cheese column. CHOW could offer a column twice a month (or more or less) with an assigned writer or a series of writers and the CH community running an informative Q & A. Could make a nice read.

I believe (FWIW) that the topic of cheese is pretty large and always changing and worthy of a place on CHOW.

Let the curd fall where it may.

[sunshine842]

I would be sorely disappointed if cheese ever got the dumbing-down that a lot of things written about on Chow receive.

I hope I'm wrong and that a cheese board would actually take on its own life...although it's from afar, I'm seeing more and more folks in the US seeing and tasting and eating artisanal (REAL) cheese...so there's hope, just not sure it's quite there yet.

[HillJ]

What better way to improve your observation of CHOW editorial than to suggest new material.

[sunshine842]

I love Chowhound -- I rarely read Chow...and "dumbed-down" would be the reason why.

I hate watching videos-as-news, so I don't even look at an ever-growing portion of the site.

[HillJ]

I get what you are saying, sunshine I just don't believe the content has to continue to disappoint some people. That's why offering suggestions is a good thing. Complaining (alone) doesn't work for me. YMMV.

[cheesemaestro]

I like your suggestion and think that it has more potential to succeed than would a dedicated board on Chowhound. Cheese is as complex and fascinating a subject as wine and there's enough to say about it to fill a column for years. Some things that would have to be considered (beyond the obvious need to convince the people who oversee CHOW to support a column on cheese):

- Vetting the authors. We would need to recruit people who really know their stuff to write the columns and answer questions from readers.

- Satisfying very different audiences from novices just starting to learn about cheese to knowledgeable readers who already know a lot and want to delve even deeper.

- Spreading the word that there is cheese column chock full of good information over on CHOW. Unfortunately, CHOW has a bad reputation with a significant percentage of Chowhound users. There are many people who participate regularly on CH, but never look at anything on CHOW.

That said, I'd certainly be willing to contribute to a regular column on cheese, if we can get approval for it.

Let the curd fall, not where it may, but into the cheese hoops!

[HillJ]

Thanks cmaestro. All you need to do is contact the folks over at CHOW and make a suggestion. You have the talents...share em!

[cheesemaestro]

So, who else here would be willing to contribute to a regularly appearing cheese column? This would work best with a small group of people sharing the writing and rotating from week to week.

[HillJ]

Gotta get the green light for such an idea first. Then an open call for contributors would follow, yes?

[cheesemaestro]

I looked at it the other way around. I'd like to know if there would be at least a couple of others interested in working on the column before approaching the powers that be.

[Delucacheesemonger]

Sure, am in for column. Wrote one for a newspaper for many years.

[cheesemaestro]

Great! Any others here? Pacheeseguy? Sunshine?

[sunshine842]

guys, next to you two, I know nuthin about cheese -- I'd be happy to help either/both of you with field research since I'm full-time at one of the richer sources, but you guys have forgotten more than I know!

[cheesemaestro]

Since you live in France (you still do, don't you?), I thought you could contribute an occasional column about French cheese, buying cheese in local French farmers markets, etc. Of course, that's only if you want to.

I've been busy with appointments yesterday and today and will contact the people at CHOW early next week.

[sunshine842]

Yep -- I'm still here -- in Brie, no less! I'd be interested in talking about it further, for sure.

[sunshine842]

Thinking about this post today -- I bought an entire round of Brie de Nangis for a laughably cheap price ...

...post a reply when you've talked to CHOW....

[melpy]

Another thought is a post like: "Let's talk about cheese"

I'm sure there would be a wealth of info.

[HillJ]

I am contently reading along good CH people! Nothing would make me happier than to see a column on specialty foods...starting with CHEESE would be terrific.

[jen kalb]

dont usually go on the general board so would probably miss it. If we really want some focus - have it spotted by folks - it would need different treatment -if not its own board, then a CHOW column that shows up in the side and bottom panels or a sticky somewhere, to keep it from sliding out of view down a board.

[melpy]

+1

[Veggo]

Cheese mouse that I am, I agree that a cheese board is something that should be enjoyed in the privacy of one's home.

[greygarious]

Agreed.

[pacheeseguy]

I'm all for it!

[suzigirl]

I'm interested. I would love to read more about cheese. The wealth of knowledge would do me good so I don't spend a ton on cheese I hate.

[HillJ]

If a sub board is too impossible, how about a food column devoted to cheese knowledge on CHOW....the information over there has been cut dramatically and even good intel is posted there for too long.

Count me in as interested!

[jen kalb]

more discussion on cheese would be cool.

[alkapal]

i'd agree.

[Veggo]

This cheese mouse concurs...but I suspect we are not on the 'A' list. I could try to recruit delucacheesemonger to the cause, a very fun guy who knows cheese and more, but it's like nailing Jello to a wall.

[Delucacheesemonger]

Sounds great to me. Considering adding myself to a cheese tour company here in Paris for work, is a lot of fun here where cheese is everywhere, cheap and wonderful.
l have found over many years, that for each turophile, there are 10-20 vinophiles, thus far more interest in wine than cheese.