If you’ve ever wondered how, where, when and/or why cheeses end up with names like Ticklemore, Fat Bottom Girl, or Constant Bliss then the Cheese Scholars Collective is here to help. “Dedicated to facilitating the constructive
exchange of scholarly perspectives
on cheese and its makers”, it was formed during a workshop held 24-26 June 2009 in Totnes, Devon, England. Since then, members of the collective have published a series of essays on ‘Naming Cheese’ in the journal Food, Culture & Society, 15:1, 7-41.
By way of example, here is a short extract from the essay ‘What Did She Call that Cheese?’ by Dr Cleary (now at the William Angliss Institute, Melbourne, Australia)
“[…] while words help people to make sense of the world by organizing their experiences, understanding is not simply a property of a text, it is also a quality of experience. In this respect meaning (and identity) is animated by ‘rough feelings and sensings’ which are then transformed into distinctive signs that help to make the world ‘readable and transmittable’ (Cooper 2006;1,549-63). Viewed in this way, naming (as that which organizes) can be seen as a series of compositional acts rather than a completed, self-sufficient structure.”
Citation: Harry G. West, Heather Paxson, Joby Williams, Cristina Grasseni, Elia Petridou & Susan Cleary (2012) Naming Cheese, Food, Culture & Society, 15:1, 7-41
The image [based on a photo by Jon Sullivan] shows a slice of well-matured ‘Stinking Bishop’, available from Charles Martell & Sons Ltd. Dymock, UK.