A Portrait of British Cheese: A Celebration of Artistry, Regionality and Recipes

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Birditt visits and documents dairies all over the British Isles, to look at the food, people and landscapes dedicated to cheeses. For the making side of cheese, timings, temperatures, length of making, milk handling, weather conditions, among many more variables, all affect the make. It now also encompasses other rural creatives, sharing and supporting them as much as possible as we do in our online editorial, Stories within Our Isles. Ultimately, Our Isles is a platform to explore and appreciate subjects like artisan and regional food, nature, rural history and heritage.

Factors like the health of the soil and the welfare and diet of the animals are things to consider in this case.

Through a selection of thirty cheesemakers (including Caws Teifi Cheese ) and their cheeses, I hope to show how British artisan cheese is profoundly connected to the land, farm animals and people involved in making it.

Angus has captured it all so beautifully in his photos and words and Lilly’s illustrations are perfect as always.Overall, "A Portrait of British Cheese" is an essential read for anyone wanting to dive deeper into the world of traditional British Cheese. I loved how these cheeses were not only a wonderful, delicious food product but also an instrument to express heritage, tradition and history. Angus Birditt's beautiful book is a celebration of artisan and farmhouses cheeses of the British Isles. From Lincolnshire Poacher to Stichelton (the original Stilton), Britain's own Brie in the form of Baron Bigod from Suffolk, to Brefu Bach sheep's milk cheese from Snowdonia and Appleby's Cheshire cheese from the heart of rural Shropshire, this is a unique journey through photos, essays and recipes, revealing the joys and challenges of a life in cheesemaking.

Cheese has always been an integral part of my life, from growing up, stuffed in packed lunches, or in recent times, melted on god knows what!I loved that these cheeses were not only a wonderful, delicious food product but also an instrument to express heritage, tradition and history. The following words extracted from longer poems and accompanying photography attempt to capture the immense beauty, fragility and mysteriousness of our Isles. Graham Kirkham of Kirkham’s Lancashire (1 of 30 artisan cheesemakers in the book) said that ‘every piece of cheese is a part of history’, his cheese being made to the same recipe his great grandmother made. The public's discovery and support for speciality cheeses has helped many producers to survive, and this book is a tribute to their hard work and dedication.

There are plenty of organisations and charities out there that can help connect us with farmers and food producers. This book highlights the wonderful diversity of people, scales and skills which characterise and bind together the emergent community of UK artisan cheese makers. Farmhouse cheesemakers are also increasing the diversity of pasture their animals are grazing to see whether it affects the final flavour of the cheese.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. It makes you truly admire the hard work of the cheese makers, appreciate the animals and reflect on where the food we eat comes from. And each aspect (soil/land, pasture/feed, animal, milk quality, maker) is so variable, which makes cheese such a diverse and fascinating product.