madame fromage’s adventures in cheese: how to explore it, pair it, and love it, from the creamiest chevres to the funkiest blues

A transporting guide to all things cheese, from how and where it’s made to how to truly taste it

Meet Madame Fromage, aka Tenaya Darlington. A charming, witty, deeply knowledgeable and, above all, passionate caseophile--a fancy way of saying cheese lover--she’s here to teach us pretty much everything we need to know about choosing cheese, tasting it, pairing it, and sharing it.

Structured around the concept of eight tasting journeys, Madame Fromage takes us on tours through the cheese world. We skydive into fresh cheeses, like chevres, ricotta, and buffalo mozzarella. Trek through the Alpines, with its Emmentalers and Gruyeres. Go spelunking into stinky cheeses like Taleggio, Pont-l’Eveque, and the rank Langres. Take a geological adventure with aged cheeses, including Parmigiano Reggiano and Manchego, and hop on a blue cheese rock ’n’ roll tour--with their piercings and weird markings, these funky gorgonzolas, Roqueforts, and Stiltons are the rock stars of the cheese world. They also pair well with bourbon and elevate a burger, not to mention a wedge salad.

Along the way we learn about pasture-raised animals, spend time with fearless cheesemakers, discover tips on creating next-level boards for every style of cheese. And find a bucket-list of 25 greats readers will want to tick off, one by one. For any curd nerd whose eyes light up at the mere mention of triple crème, it’s a journey that can’t be missed.

Raised by a Swiss mother and reared on Wisconsin cheese, Tenaya Darlington has spent her whole life creating cheese boards and chasing cheesemongers. After serving as Food Editor for Isthmus newspaper in Madison, WI, she moved to Philadelphia and discovered the 300+ cheeses on offer at the city’s legendary cheese shop, Di Bruno Bros. Homesickness drove her to launch the blog Madame Fromage, where she chronicles her cheese travels, logs tasting notes, conducts interviews with makers and mongers, develops recipes, and posts pairing suggestions. Motivated to support her local cheese scene, she also launched Philadelphia’s first Cheese Ball, now a semiannual fundraiser that draws up to 500 cheese lovers who participate in building a gigantic cheese board. Tenaya is the co-author of Di Bruno Bros.House of Cheese, and has also collaborated on four cookbooks with her spirits-expert brother, André. She has contributed cheese stories to Cooking Light, Organic Life, EdiblePhilly, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Table Matters, and Culture Magazine, among others. For her day job, she directs the Writing Studies M.A. program at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.