Tenaya Darlington Wants Her New Book to Inspire Your Next Cheese Adventure

Tenaya Darlington—better known as Madame Fromage to cheese fans everywhere—is on a mission to make cheese more accessible. Ever since a life-changing moment in a Philadelphia cheese shop in 2009, she’s documented her flavorful journey through the world of cheese—first as an OG food blogger, then on Instagram, in her newsletter, and in books. Her latest, Madame Fromage’s Adventures in Cheese: How to Explore It, Pair It, and Love It, From the Creamiest Bries to the Funkiest Blues, is a colorful, intrepid journey through the world’s iconic cheeses and the people who make them. Read our review of it. We caught up with Tenaya to talk about the new book, cheese travel, and what she’s up to next.

 

There are a ton of great cheese books out there. What did you hope to accomplish with Madame Fromage’s Adventures in Cheese?

I started this project in 2018 because the publisher was interested in a cheese book. What I really love to do is take people on adventures, either in person or at the table, and make cheese approachable. I wanted to have profiles of people in the industry, so you meet Sue Miller and follow a day in her cheesemaking life. She was the first person who ever invited me into her little creamery, so I wanted to honor her. I wanted people to meet Betty Koster, someone who runs her own cheese cave and series of shops.

I also wanted to explore the styles of cheese, because I learned by eating my way through stinky cheeses, spending a summer eating nothing but blues, by gorging on soft-ripened cheeses. I wanted the book to be illustrated because at the time, there weren’t any illustrated cheese books. I wanted it to feel like a big, colorful bedtime story about cheese. Then I put in a whole travel section. I hope this book invites people to be a little bit whimsical in their approach to cheese.

 

What was it like to work with an illustrator on the book?

I had a different illustrator in mind, and we worked together for about three years. Sadly, that didn’t work out due to changes in publishing schedules and designers, because this book took five years. When a new designer came along, she presented me with a few different illustrators, and they were all very scientific, so literal. I said, “There’s nothing playful. It needs to really feel colorful and vibrant.” And then they sent me some images from Aly Miller, and she’d done maps and illustrations for the Union Square Greenmarket in New York. When I started to see sketches, I thought, wow, she really gets it. We’re working on some other collaborations together, including a fun bandanna that fits into the book. The illustrations reminded me of the covers of the Moosewood Cookbook series, which I learned to cook from. I love them. They’re wholesome and playful and a little whimsical.

 

You feature some really amazing guest stars from different parts of the cheese world. How did you decide who to include and how to bring their voices into the book?

I literally just reached out to people and said, “Hey, I want to write a cheese book and I want your voice, can we set up a call?” With each one I decided, is it a Q&A? A profile? I wanted there to be a guide in each chapter who would give voice to some area of cheese passion. One of my favorites was Olivia Haver, who was washing washed rinds and Jasper Hill at the time. She was at home drinking a beer when we chatted, and she told me all about her life playing classical bass and getting married and then leaving her husband to work in the world of cheese. Now she’s in Pennsylvania, and she just won Best in Show at ACS. It was so pleasurable to reconnect with her there and say, “Hey, that interview we did five years ago that you probably forgot about is coming out soon!”

 

Your book has a strong travel theme. You’ve been traveling with Cheese Journeys for years, and now you’re splitting your time between Europe and the U.S. How did those experiences inform the book?

Once I got into cheese, I got into cheese travel. Anywhere I went, I’d look for the local cheese shop. I started using that as my first stop in any new city or town. When I ask for something local, I’m always impressed by how the cheesemonger will have an immediate recommendation. I’ve even had people say, “Let me call this cheesemaker and set up a visit for you.” It’s really taught me that not only is cheese wonderful at the kitchen table, it’s also a means to unlock new worlds wherever you go.

I started traveling with Cheese Journeys 10 years ago. Anna Juhl came along and said “I’m passionate about cheese, and I used to own a cheese shop. I want to start this travel company. Will you help me?” For three years, we just worked in trade. For me it was a way to learn about cheese and take fantastic vacations I could never have afforded, and I was able to share photos and write blog posts and do things for her that she couldn’t really manage at that point. I’ve learned so much from her and the way she does business and handles hospitality.

In the last year or so, a few other cheese travel companies have emerged. I think this shows that people want to explore farms, farm animals, and traditional culture when they travel. That’s a really hopeful sign, because in the States, it’s hard to learn about cheese. You have to hunt for information and become a bit of an adventurer on your own. I hope incorporating cheese into travel is a natural way for people to expand their knowledge and also become part of this fabulous international cheese community.

 

You give readers a great introduction to some standout cheeses to try. How did you choose which ones to include?

I tried to give people this canon of cheeses that would help them understand the style, along with some interesting ancillary cheeses. For example, in the soft-ripened cheese chapter, I mention a cheese that’s really not available, but I want people to know about. That’s a Japanese cheese that looks like Mount Fuji. It’s unlikely that 99 percent of the people who read this book would be able to taste that cheese. You never know—someone might go to Tokyo and think, “There was a Japanese cheese in the book. Let’s see if I can find it in a cheese shop.”

I want people to know there’s this wide universe of cheeses out there to explore. When I was at ACS, there was this incredible Mexican cheese tasting. If only I had been able to put a few of those cheeses in the book! One of them tasted like passionfruit, and I’ve never had something made from milk that tastes like that. I wish I’d been able to include more non-European cheeses, but so many of them are not available here. The cheese that came for the tasting traveled something like 39 hours by car to come to Des Moines, Iowa from Mexico. It gave me a sense of just how regional these cheeses are, how few makers are out there, and how it would take a really intrepid traveler to go to Mexico and try to connect with makers.

You run a creative writing program at a university, and you’ve written many books alone and with your brother André. You also recently launched a newsletter. What’s your writing practice like right now?

Right now, I’m more excited to talk and teach rather than be stuck behind a laptop. I turned 50 during the pandemic, and that was a huge wake-up call for me to not just work all the time. I love the work I do—writing, teaching, freelancing—but it comes at a cost. Right now, I have this frozen shoulder and an arm that doesn’t really work. That’s 30 years of writing my brains out seven days a week. I’ve tried to transition away from doing so much at the keyboard. I’ve moved away from longform journalism and blogging into more of a bite-sized writing life.

Do you have any advice for people in the cheese world who may have the opportunity to write a book?

The thing that has helped me the most is a book called Will Write for Food. I use that book every time I sit down to write a proposal. I dream up a table of contents and go from there. It’s also important to think of a book not as a moneymaker. It’s a huge draw on your time and energy to write and promote it. It has to be a book that you’ll feel great about handing to someone. Ask yourself what you feel you have to give to other people who want to love cheese as much as you do, and then give them what you know and what you love.

Aside from buying your book, how can people connect with you and follow your work?

You can follow along with my newsletter. I’m hosting another Cheese Ball, a big big book party, in Philadelphia on October 21.

It’s taken me a long time to figure out how to take this book and put it into the world in a way that’s useful. What I’ve settled on is a virtual series of events over the next year to two years. I’m trying to collaborate with entities that are involved in cheese and set up a class with their base. The classes I’m offering will be low-cost, approachable, and affordable. If you have the book, you can join me for a Sunday afternoon to taste through stinkers or blue cheeses, and I’ll recommend what people can pick up so that they can support their own cheese shops or cheese counters in their communities.

This interview has been edited and condensed.