7 Classic Beach Reads & Cheese

What makes a good beach read? What makes a good beach cheese? What makes them good together? In this installment of Popular Cultures, we move beyond the realm of screen or audio-based media and into something a little more analog: books. I shall fully acknowledge here that you may be reading books on a device or listening to audiobooks, even while at the beach, refuting my last point. But still, as with cheese, it is better to be consuming them in any form than not. (Thankfully, beaches and cheese both will always remain stubbornly non-digital.)

To the main questions above, I believe that what makes either a book or a cheese beach-worthy is something engrossing, that sparks distraction, and sometimes, joy. Something you’re eager to revisit for some indulgence and escape. Note that I intentionally chose not to use the word “uncomplicated” here, as the topic shouldn’t rule out books of substance, nor cheeses that are washed rind or blue.

In terms of what makes beach reads and certain cheeses good together: read on, reader. With inspiration from some of New York Times’ and Vogue’s best beach reads lists, as well as from my own shelves, here are beach read and cheese pairings to inspire you to grab a novel and lay out your towel, even in the privacy of your own living room.

 

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett with Jibneh

I couldn’t wait to promote this duo the minute that pairing cheeses with beach reads was proposed to me. Tom Lake was a rare book that I finished, and then immediately flipped (read: scrolled) back to the beginning to read again. It’s got the necessary DNA for a perfect beach read — romance with a movie star, nostalgia, betrayal, summer stock theater — plus it’s got Ann Patchett’s brilliant storytelling and elegant prose, removing any thought of “guilty” from the pleasure. 

And it’s got cherries, and that’s where the cheese comes in. Set on a Michigan cherry farm where the main character recounts a formative story of her wayward youth to her daughters, there are cherries on nearly every page. Jibneh, a Syrian snacking cheese, is aromatized with mahleb, which comes from ground cherry pits. While I am willing to bring just about any cheese to the beach, (see below for more radical recommendations) jibneh is just about the best choice for the setting, as a sturdy cheese that melts well but holds its form, so it won’t slither all over your beach blanket. Plus, its ideal pairing accoutrements are other beach-friendly staples: cooling cucumbers and watermelon. Read more about jibneh. 

 

The Lost Letters from Martha’s Vineyard by Michael Callahan with Prufrock

Clock this for an intriguing entry point: discovering via a box of letters stashed in the attic that your recently deceased grandmother was a 1950s Hollywood starlet who disappeared, absconding to Martha’s Vineyard to restart life out of the public eye. (The beach read DNA as described above is all intact, here.)

Consider then, another tasty secret originating on Martha’s Vineyard, as cheeses often pair well with other elements when they share the same geographical pedigree: Prufrock, (2022 US International Cheese Competition Bronze medal winner) a pudgy, sturdy, meaty washed rind number. Uncomplicated? No. But neither is discovering an earth-shattering secret about the woman who raised you after your parents’ death, but it still makes for an engrossing, feel good experience. 

According to Grey Barn, the Martha’s Vineyard-based maker of Prufrock, “It is a pungent revelation, adorned with hints of apricots and the subtle richness reminiscent of cured ham.” Not only tasting notes, I’d reckon, but a handy pairing idea also easily brought to the beach. Made from local organic cow’s milk that carries a perpetually salty tang due to its island climate, and washed with a traditional brine, the best thing about potentially bringing a stinky cheese to the beach is that other beach-goers might give you more space than usual.

 

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert with Moliterno al Tartufo

City of Girls’ author, Elizabeth Gilbert, is much more famous when it comes to another arguably beachy read: Eat Pray Love. For the memoir-averse among you, however, her fiction novels are joy rides into times and places beyond Gilbert’s own experience. City of Girls is a sexy, wild romp into the underbelly of New York City’s quasi-vaudevillian theaters of the 1940s, feathery showgirls and all. (Romance with a movie star, betrayal, nostalgia, theater…yeah, I have a type.)

Speaking of types, we know from Eat Pray Love that the author is “unstitched” by all things Italian, especially deep brown eyes, so she gives us not one, not two, but three espresso-eyed Italian-American characters that in different ways and times effectively unstitch the main character. (Who, it must be said, is a seamstress.) Unstitch, undress…you get the idea.

So let its cheese pairing companion be that which is also Italian, and hedonistic: Moliterno al Tartufo, a supple, sheep’s milk cheese studded with truffles, so decadent that in its snacking you can maybe even imagine it is you being ravaged. Read more about truffle cheeses.

 

Into the Woods by Tana French with Kerrygold Dubliner Irish Cheddar

Breaking with type, this one’s for all you crime-consuming beach readers. (Murder! Ireland! Not a movie star in sight!) The debut novel from Irish actress/author Tana French, Into the Woods the first in a series of six murder mystery books centering around an Irish police force dubbed the Dublin Murder Squad. (That a whole series awaits you should you be sucked in by book one bodes well not only for motivating future reading but also for future beach trips.)

Kerrygold Dubliner Irish Cheddar isn’t only a terroir-based pairing for this dark novel. It’s not merely as simple as “both these things came from Ireland,” which wouldn’t be giving appropriate credit to the twisty, complicated unfolding of events here. As the main character strives to solve a murder case in his hometown, with echoes of his own experiences as a child, he descends into trauma-based neurosis. You, and probably he, will need something to ground you. Sweet, nutty, and firm, let this comforting and familiar cheddar be the touchstone for holding on to reality when the goings get wild.

 

888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers by Abraham Chang with Murray’s Cave Aged Original 80:10:10

The beach has the undeniable power to give us expansive thoughts, making us feel both minuscule and yet connected to something bigger, considering the various forces at work in the machinations of the spinning planet. (Mind the tides, as you contemplate. Nobody likes a sopping wet beach blanket.) For the main character in Abraham Chang’s 888 Love…the biggest force at work in his world is numbers.

Inoculated with popular culture, pop psychology, numerology, and superstition, the novel is an examination of past relationships from a male character’s point of view, (fiction, obviously) where he tries to conclude how his sixth girlfriend, who he genuinely believes to be the love of his life, can fit his grandfather’s philosophy of a person’s “seven great loves.” (A numbers and their meanings addict, he could put even the most fervent Taylor Swift easter-egg hunter to shame.)

So let’s honor this combination lock of a novel with a numerically-inclined cheese, also helpfully located just down the street from its New York University setting: Murray’s Cave Aged Original 80:10:10. The cheese is all about the ratios: its name is a nod to its components of cow’s, sheep’s, and goat’s milk cheese in the recipe. A take on Taleggio with notes of churned butter, caramelized onions, and broth, the washed-rind cheese is just friendly enough to share, and bold enough to embolden you to see if someone — your seventh great love, perhaps — wants to share your blanket.

 

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann with Ewephoria

Not all great beach reads were born yesterday, and here’s a classic: written in 1966 (right around the same time as the release of Beach Blanket Bingo, the cheesiest of beach romps) Valley of the Dolls is a cautionary tale about the lure of Hollywood glamour. (Romance with a movie star, betrayal…and we’re back!) “Dolls” is a euphemism for pills in the parlance of the era, which sees its three main characters struggle with addiction in an effort to cope with the very society and culture that seduces them from the East Coast to begin with.

Ewephoria has some obvious, built-in meaning, given its name and a book about addiction, but let’s parse it out a bit further. To start, there’s an innocence to our main characters at the outset, a washed curd kind of trio who should have the potential to sweeten with age, as does this sheep’s milk gouda variation that was specifically developed to appeal to Americans’ sweet palate. There’s also a metaphor about the sheep-like quality of the pilgrimage of young women chasing stardom to Los Angeles. But the real power of Ewephoria, and its pairability for the novel, is its legitimate feel good capability. While not exactly a pain-killer, those crunchy tyrosine crystals share some DNA with dopamine, a literal mood enhancer. Now, that’s my kind of doll.

 

Chocolat by Joann Harris with Barnstorm Blue.

Chocolate, as in the candy, can be tricky to bring to the beach, at least without a solid cold storage system in place. Chocolat, as in the novel, is very easy to bring to the beach and a sexy read that is ripe for such a setting. The book explores the healing power of self-indulgence, which will feel especially mood-enhancing while you are aptly self-indulging: at the beach, devouring a novel and any cheese you brought with which to enjoy it.

Once the chocolate craving inevitably hits, rather than a melty Dove bar, reach for a less melty piece of Barnstorm Blue. A collaboration between Murray’s and Jasper Hill Creamery, a multiple award winner at the U.S. International Cheese Competition, at first glance this cheese would seem to be the very antithesis of beach: both washed rind and blue, suggesting maximum waft and goo. In what can only be attributed to witchcraft, however, the cheese’s aroma and flavor is nothing if not freshly baked brownies.