TheQKatie

hi u/lavender_gooms! Love this question. These were my favorite kind of people and places to seek out during research. Here's a couple examples:

1. In Paris, a place where bread has such a strong tradition there was this baker named Xavier combining all kinds of "atypical" (I use quotes, because everything is relative!) ingredients in his sourdough breads like caramelised hazelnuts and lemon. Or buckwheat, soy sauce and lard baguettes. One of my favorites was inspired by his mom's Guadeloupe roots, which mixed cumin, ginger and curry, and peppers into the dough. Check him out here: https://www.instagram.com/xvbaker/
2. In Brittany, I lived with Nicolas Supiot. He comes to mind because he's breaking the mold in bread by actually reconnecting with the way bread was made pre-industrial revolution. He calls himself a "peasant baker" (paysan boulanger). He grows his own grains (from ancient heritage stock), mills it and then bakes sourdough bread with that flour. (In the wood-fired oven that he built himself) (just google him -- or check out the bread section of the book)
3. In Suffolk, England. Jonny Crickmore is making a bloomy-rind, soft-ripened cheese (Think French Brie). It's called Baron Bigod. In doing this, he's completely redefining what British cheese can be. He's one of the first to even attempt making this type of cheese in the British Isles. Check out here: https://fenfarmdairy.co.uk/cheese/
4. Lastly, in Sicily I met Arianna Occhipinti, who is making world-renowned natural wines from a part of Sicily historically known for supplying the grapes for cheap, bulk wine. She's amazing, and a part of small, but mighty cohort of women shaking up the world of wine. http://www.agricolaocchipinti.it/en/

As you can see, I could go on for days! Hope this is useful!

u/guitarhero666 hahahaha When I was working on a goat cheese farm in Somerset, I got called a "ninny" when I dumped a bucket of dirty water into the fresh drinking water for the new baby goats. Farming looked easy, but I showed my city slicker card PRETTY fast.

Hi! u/MachZero2Sixty I sure hope so! Sounds like you and I would be first in line at these places ;)

But, there's proof behind our hope. In promoting my book, I discovered and partnered with an amazing cheese shop in Detroit (https://mongersprovisions.com/) and have heard lots of chatter about a boom in natural wine bars ( not just LA and NYC, but Houston, Minneapolis, Boston, Miami!)

And anecdotally, both my partner and I are from small, rural cities in Ohio and Michigan that have both seen heavy investment in creating market-type commerce that has launched new cheese, and bread operations and communities of excited customers around it.

There's an appetite for this stuff, for sure. Part of my reason to write about it is to help stoke that hunger!

Thanks for asking!

Hi u/KeGeGa! Like everything in my life, it was a winding journey of following my curiosity. When I first moved to London, I got an *awesome* video gig with the Comte Cheese Association in France (https://youtu.be/sMnTyUlUDpM). Basically, my new friends there were like, if you love cheese so much, you gotta check out Neal's Yard Dairy back in London and they made an introduction (the cheese world is small and friendly like that) and it turned out they needed temp staff to work the INSANE Christmas cheese rush (Neal's Yard Dairy does 20% of their business in December alone) so I took the plunge and ended up working behind the slate there for three seasons as a monger. Never got sick of cheese for a second!

As for Kimchi and Kraut -- ABSOLUTELY. I love making both. (https://youtu.be/pfBt4G3_C7g) & (https://youtu.be/F2o4k12NSxA)

They're actually the reason I started on this book journey because I was obsessed with that kind of fermented product and making it, but for some reason hadn't connected the dots that the same process was happening in these three basic staples of cheese, wine and bread that I love eating. I've got a million next book ideas, but I'm trying to find one that combines Kimchi, Sauerkraut... and I need a third, you know?

Thanks for asking!

Ok so, I didn't expect this AMA to be so popular! Massive props to u/Tunasub and u/Im_cool_really for stepping in. Yes, a big part of it is outside contamination. If handled and treated properly, the process helps the good stuff grow and keeps the bad stuff at bay. When I worked as a cheesemonger, I was constantly washing my hands. If cheese hit the floor, it went in the trash. One time I watched a colleague drop an entire wheel of Stilton on the ground. Easily over a £100 of cheese straight to the trash. Had to happen. When I made cheese, it was like were in a surgical OR, constantly scrubbing and out. Changing out shoes at the door. Hairnets, all that jazz. It's a spooky reality, but humans have been making this stuff for centuries, so if you follow the best practices you're usually OK.