The NY Times focuses on cheesemongers selling artisanal cheese and their penchant to wax poetic about the cheeses they sell. This is evidence, as if more were required, that it’s important for us cheesemakers to tell our retailers as much as we can about the the cheeses we make — you never know what small detail might strike their fancy and resonate in the aroma or flavors or appearance of our cheeses. Because if the cheesemonger has a good story to tell about a cheese, they WILL tell it to as many customers as they possibly can (who doesn’t like a good story) which means that they might feature your cheese more often, and likewise strike a chord in the hungry public to try and buy more of your cheese…
I’ve found cheesemongers like to know everything about a cheese, like how a cheese style was developed (what were YOUR influences?), about any quirks in its production, right down to knowing the names of the dairy animals who contributed their milk to each cheese. Be prepared to tell it all, and then pay attention to the bits they latch onto — we could probably write novels about our cheeses, but brevity, as always, is the soul of a good story, and every cheesemonger will focus on something different. They will weave these interesting (to them) bits of your story into their own mythology; more often than not it’s their way of differentiating each cheese. Once they hit upon a good story (your facts, their fancy) they will tell it over and over like any vaudeville comedian would to each new audience.
