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GOURMET NEWS OCTOBER 2019 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 4 FROM THE EDITOR Greetings! It's such a pleasure to bring to you the fall 2019 edition of the Cheese Guide in this issue of Gourmet News. One story that we weren't able to include this time around is news from the American Cheese Society's annual meeting about the ways that some of our artisan cheesemakers and dairy farmers are responding to climate change. Look for that story in the Novem- ber issue of Gourmet News. In the meantime, you'll find plenty of ev- idence in this Cheese Guide that the folks who are responsible for the wonderful ar- tisanal cheeses that we enjoy so much are providing humane, compassionate care for the animals that provide the milk that's the raw material for cheesemaking, they're tak- ing steps to conserve and preserve our planet's national resources, and they're pro- viding jobs and economic value that help to preserve our rural American communi- ties. The specific folks who are mentioned in these stories are examples of all this, but they're far from the only examples out there – they're just the ones whose stories we're telling in this particular issue. You'll read in the cover story about Ore- gon's dairy industry how very hard it is to do all that and stay in business in today's market conditions. The premium price that consumers are asked to pay for specialty cheese makes it just a little easier, because cheesemakers are able to pass a little bit of that on to their dairy farmers for an assured supply of high-quality milk. I hear a lot of questions about how retail- ers should answer consumers' questions about why specialty cheese is so expensive. There are a lot of ways to answer that. I, personally, think that the best way to an- swer that question is that the extra money we all pay for specialty cheese goes, in gen- eral, for a better quality of life for dairy an- imals who get to live longer, healthier lives in smaller herds where they're cared for by family farmers who love them; for the extra care and creativity that real, human cheese- makers exercise when they're making spe- cialty cheese by hand; and for the costs of making and caring for a perishable product when you don't get the economies of scale that are possible for a mass-marketed prod- uct. That's why I tell people when they ask me why specialty cheese is expensive that what you're really paying for is the privilege of knowing that, in a world full of moral ambiguities, buying and enjoying specialty cheese is actually a righteous act. For what you get, it's cheap at the price. If I get asked to elaborate – and I do – I can do that for hours with stories like the ones you'll read in this issue of The Cheese Guide. You're lucky that you get to read about it in a magazine that you can just put down when you get hungry for cheese. Enjoy The Cheese Guide as well as this October issue of Gourmet News! GN — Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director FROM THE EDITOR G OURMET N EWS ® OSER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP FOUNDER Lee M. Oser MEMBER OF: Periodicals postage paid at Tucson, AZ, and additional mailing office. Gourmet News (ISSN 1052-4630) is published monthly by Oser Communications Group, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715; 520.721.1300. Publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material or prices quoted in newspaper. Contributors are responsible for proper release of pro- prietary classified information. ©2019 by Oser Communications Group. All rights re- served. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without writ- ten permission of the publisher, is expressly prohibited. Back issues, when available, cost $7 each within the past 12 months, $12 each prior to the past 12 months. Back orders must be paid in advance either by check or charged to American Express, Visa, or Master Card. Gourmet News is distributed without charge in North America to qualified professionals in the retail and dis- tribution channels of the specialty foods and hardgoods trade; paid subscriptions cost $65 annually to the U.S. and Canada. All foreign subscriptions cost $150 annu- ally to cover air delivery. All payments must be made in U.S. funds and drawn on a U.S. bank. For subscriber services, including subscription information, call 520.721.1300. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Gourmet News, 1877 North Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715. WWW.GOURMETNEWS.COM PUBLISHER Kimberly Oser SENIOR ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Jules Denton-Card jules_d@oser.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lorrie Baumann editor@oser.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Anthony Socci anthony_s@oser.com SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Greg Gonzales ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jeanie Catron ART DIRECTOR Yasmine Brown GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jonathan Schieffer CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER Susan Stein CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSOCIATE Spencer Fisher CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Tara Neal tara_n@oser.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Jamie Green jamie_g@oser.com EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Heather Albrecht heather_a@oser.com PUBLISHING OFFICE 1877 N. Kolb Road P.O. Box 1056 Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300 Fax 520.721.6300 SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Gourmet News P.O. Box 30520 Tucson, AZ 85751 520.721.1300

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