“Do you not smile at this?” (from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure)

Neal’s Yard is a wonderful cheese shop that has the most educated staff I have ever come across when shopping for food. Today, we met with Martin, who told us all about the long history of cheese, different varieties of cheeses, and which kinds are his favorites.

Neal’s Yard specializes in cheeses from across the United Kingdom. Each one is marked with a little sign telling customers the name of the maker and the region where it is produced. The cheeses are made with different kinds of milk, including cow, sheep, and goat milk.

Cheese is an important part of people’s diets, especially vegetarians. (I should know, I am a vegetarian.) Most cheese is made with rennet and not all rennet is vegetarian. This was good information to have before I sampled some of the cheese.

The best part: as Martin explained each cheese, we all got have a taste. Even though cheese is made using a pretty simple process, small changes can make big differences in taste, smell, appearance, and texture.

Well informed and well fed,

More sensory overload? Visit the Chelsea Physic Garden.

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