{"id":43843,"date":"2022-05-24T14:14:52","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T18:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=43843"},"modified":"2022-05-24T14:14:53","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T18:14:53","slug":"celebrating-american-cheese-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/celebrating-american-cheese-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating American Cheese Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

American Cheese Education Foundation scholarships support careers in cheese <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Photography by MISA ME, courtesy of American Cheese Society<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before attending the American Cheese Society<\/a>\u2019s annual conference three years ago (in Richmond, VA), Toronto-based Julia Treloar\u2014head fromager<\/em> at Cheese Boutique<\/a>\u2014had traveled to the United States only twice. She\u2019d heard rumblings about how delicious and diverse American cheeses are\u2014but it\u2019s hard to voice your own acclaim without trying them first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, once in Richmond, she tasted as many American cheeses as possible at the conference and dining out on the town. “I had no idea there were so many cheesemakers in America,” she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Tasting cheeses at the 2019 ACS Conference in Richmond, VA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What made Treloar\u2019s trip to the conference possible was a fully funded scholarship through the American Cheese Education Foundation<\/a> (ACEF), the 501(c)(3) arm of the American Cheese Society that solicits funds to further cheese professionals\u2019 education through a variety of means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We recognize as an industry there are folks who are mongers or in retail and don\u2019t necessarily have the money to travel to the conference or take off work,” says Tara Holmes, ACS\u2019 executive director. “We want to limit the barriers for those who want to attend the conference.” Holmes reports a higher number of applicants in 2022 than in previous years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awarding 10 to 15 of these scholarships each year is one way that the American Cheese Society honors American Cheese Month each May, which coincides with the scholarship deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Cheese Month was held in October until 2019, when it was moved to May to better support North American dairy farmers and cheesemakers, and the cheesemongers and retailers who sell their products. Overall, the month-long initiative is about promoting the incredible diversity of these cheeses as well as the local, small, and family-owned farms that make it happen. Pinpointing inspiring examples of sustainable production models in the cheese industry is another aim woven into the marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funds donated to ACEF are also used to create and host webinar content, and to support education and scientific research about specialty cheeses. This all ties into the larger goal of furthering education in the industry\u2014at all levels, from mongers to makers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a call to action, those in the American cheese industry are asked to participate by donating funds through this link<\/a> (a portion of retailers\u2019, cheesemakers\u2019, and specialty-food distributors\u2019 sales can also be donated) or using American Cheese Month graphics<\/a> for in-store marketing or on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Tyler Coenen, 30, a cheese specialist at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Adell, Iowa, attending the 2019 ACS conference as the recipient of the John Crompton Memorial Scholarship was a game-changer. Only retail-industry employees can apply and should be able to demonstrate financial need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was one of the coolest things I\u2019ve been able to do,” Coenen says about attending the conference that year in Richmond. \u201cI had not been to any conference, whether it was cheese or anything else. There were people I\u2019d seen on Instagram and cheesemongers I\u2019d read about online. The people who are there have done it all.” What Coenen enjoyed most at the conference was the ability to “interact in person and pick their brain and learn how they got to where they are now,” he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n
A seminar (left) and tasting event at the 2019 ACS Conference<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Saying “Cheers” to cheese at the 2019 ACS Conference<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the age of 21, Coenen launched his career in cheese by working at the highly respected Scardello Artisan Cheese<\/a> in Dallas, Texas, as a cheese specialist. “I was tasting some of the most amazing cheese offered in the United States in that cheese shop,” he says. It was the owner\u2019s involvement with ACS that introduced him to the organization\u2014and the scholarship opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on his positive experience in Richmond, Coenen enthusiastically signed up as co-chair for the 2023 conference, since it\u2019s going to be in Iowa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working in a supportive, family-owned company also encouraged Coenen to become a Certified Cheese Professional (CCP) through ACS in 2019, the same year he attended the conference. \u201cNow, I\u2019m back in my home state doing something that I\u2019m passionate about and bringing that passion to customers. I just try and get as much fun and unique (cheeses) as I can,\u201d he says. “If I don\u2019t find it interesting and worth spending money on, I obviously wouldn\u2019t want to push it on the customer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Access to American cheese also broadened Treloar\u2019s knowledge. Once she\u2019d tasted American cheeses she vowed to make them available to customers at her Toronto shop, now on its third-generation owners and proud to sell 500-some varieties of cheese. Recently she began to retail Humboldt Fog, Bermuda Triangle and Truffle Tremor, all from Cypress Grove<\/a> in Arcata, CA. But she\u2019s not stopping there. \u201cWe really want to get Jasper Hill, Vermont Creamery and Cowgirl Creamery,\u201d says Treloar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When you work in a cheese shop, you can share all that with customers,\u201d says Coenen. “My favorite part is helping customers and allowing them to branch out like I did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Applications for scholarships to attend the American Cheese Society\u2019s annual conference are accepted every spring, with May 1 as the deadline. In 2023 the conference will be in Des Moines, Iowa. The Peterson Company<\/a>\u2014a family-owned specialty-foods importer and distributor in Auburn, Washington\u2014specifically earmarks its donation for BIPOC scholarships, and applicants can on their application indicated they\u2019d like to be considered for the Peterson scholarship. \u201cIt\u2019s an important area of our industry that\u2019s often overlooked,\u201d says Tara Holmes, ACS\u2019 executive director, about increasing diversity among conference attendees. Vermont Creamery<\/a> is another company that continually makes large donations to the foundation. More information about the scholarship program is at cheesefoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American Cheese Education Foundation scholarships support careers in cheese Photography by MISA ME, courtesy of American Cheese Society Before attending the American Cheese Society\u2019s annual conference three years ago (in Richmond, VA), Toronto-based Julia Treloar\u2014head fromager at Cheese Boutique\u2014had traveled to the United States only twice. She\u2019d heard rumblings about how delicious and diverse American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":43844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[27534,33599,4974,1091,25332,1296,13128],"coauthors":[28008],"class_list":["post-43843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-acs-conference","tag-american-cheese-education-foundation","tag-american-cheese-month","tag-american-cheese-society","tag-american-cheesemakers","tag-cheesemakers","tag-cheesemongers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCelebrating American Cheese Month - culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/celebrating-american-cheese-month\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Celebrating American Cheese Month\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"American Cheese Education Foundation scholarships support careers in cheese Photography by MISA ME, courtesy of American Cheese Society Before attending the American Cheese Society\u2019s annual conference three years ago (in Richmond, VA), Toronto-based Julia Treloar\u2014head fromager at Cheese Boutique\u2014had traveled to the United States only twice. 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