Joe Berkowitz

Somehow, I ended up with an advanced review copy of this book, which won't be published until next month. I've wracked my brain in an attempt to figure out where I got it, and the best I can do is that I bought it from one of the booksellers who operate on the streets in Greenwich Village around New York University. One of the benefits (or curses, depending on one's view of these things) of living in a publishing capital is that one occasionally gets an early look at interesting books.

And an interesting book this is: because it is an uncorrected proof, it contains a number of spelling and grammatical errors which I'm sure a wary copyeditor has long since corrected; likewise, I'm confident a judicious fact checker caught the fact that Anthony Weiner, one of our more, uh, colorful politicians here in New York City, was never a United States Senator, but rather a Congressman. Before he disgraced himself, that is.

In any case, as its title suggests, this book reports on the world of pun competition, a lively subculture of whose existence I was entirely ignorant. I take exception to the use of the modifier "irreverent" in the title, as I think Mr. Berkowitz actually approaches this world with the reverence it is due, which is to say some, but maybe not too much. While this is a book, I suspect, written for a younger audience (there is a lot of exposition on the social relationships between the real-life characters, and some of it is a bit too chatty for my tastes), and I am an older person, I still found this book compelling in parts, and sufficiently interesting that I read all but the final twenty pages in one compulsive gulp. Incidentally, if you are young and interested in breaking into the world of comedy writing and performing, this book passively supplies an interesting look into the way that milieu operates

Using the conventions of sportswriting, Mr. Berkowitz manages to make the actual pun competitions he attends, and in which he participates, genuinely exciting. He moves his narrative at a brisk pace, making what would potentially induce torpor into a something that reads like, well, like the best descriptive writing about closely fought sporting events, which I suppose is what the pun competitions are.

I like the idea that books like this still have an audience, and therefore still get published. Despite observing several times that puns are generally regarded as the lowest form of comedy, Mr. Berkowitz shows, and doesn't tell--another of this book's strengths--the high but quirky intelligence engaged in participating in a pun competition. The contestants in this world are clearly both intelligent and interesting people, and they're well worth reading about.… (mehr)

The book chronicles the author's cheese journey, from ignorant amateur to cognizant connoisseur, as well as America's rise in the cheese world. Following the author's revelation at an establishment that he has been leading a most basic cheese life, he tours across the world expanding his cheese lexicon and gaining first-hand experience on artisanal cheese. He meets with producers and mongers, visits farms and contests, and attends parties and seminars.
It's a solid book on the cheese world, bringing the reader along for the tasting and adventuring with its attractive descriptions. The cover's nice, featuring a drawing of the empire state building stabbing a piece of cheese.… (mehr)

American Cheese: An Indulgent Odyssey Through the Artisan Cheese World by Joe Berkowitz is a very highly recommended book about cheese. How could a book about cheese not be worthy of five stars? "Cheese is literally heaven. It’s what happens after milk sheds this mortal coil and ascends to a higher plane of existence."

I've been excited to read American Cheese since I first heard about it and it is worthy of my every expectation. There is no doubt that Joe Berkowitz loves cheese so he is the perfect choice to share the world of American artisan cheese with the rest of us. What is even more entertaining is that he does so in an informative and humorous fashion.

After his first encounter with an artisan cheese tasting and experiencing Rogue River Blue at Murray's Cheese in New York, Berkowitz began to explore the artisan cheese culture. He visits tastings, cheese mongers, makers, affineurs, cheesemonger competitions, dairy scientists, cheese celebrations, and restaurants with cheese carts. There is a whole cheese culture that celebrates cheese. He volunteers at Murray’s Cheese shop, attends the Cheese Ball and meets Madame Fromage, follows the California cheese trail, he visits Cheeselandia, and talks to dairy scientists at Wisconsin’s Center for Dairy Research. It is a plethora of cheese happenings and cheese information!

If you love cheese, and anyone who is looking into a book called American Cheese: An Indulgent Odyssey Through the Artisan Cheese World likely does, as you read be sure to have a pen and paper handy so you can write down all the new cheeses to taste. I had to scramble looking for something to write on almost immediately so I'd like to give the rest of you a heads up. I am thrilled to learn that "According to Dr. Ahuja, those among us who can endure limitless dairy products have a genetic mutation that keeps our lactase intact into adulthood. In other words, cheese lovers are technically X-Men." Yes!

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2020/10/american-cheese.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3585070361… (mehr)

I received an advance galley through NetGalley.

American Cheese is my kind of book. Author Joe Berkowitz had a near-religious experience with artisan cheese that awoke him to the diverse flavors and textures of the world's cheese, resulting in a country and world-spanning odyssey to understand the joys of modern cheese and the industry as a whole. It's enlightening. It's laugh-out-loud funny through. Perhaps most of all, I felt as if I had connected with a friend who gets it.

I love cheese. I chronicle every cheese that I try and constantly seek out new experiences. It has become one of my prime (and most expensive) hobbies. I've had many of the cheeses he viscerally describes in this book, and discovered many more to add to my wish list (and yes, there is an actual wish list). Even more, he gets to experience and describe incredible things I never will, like volunteering at Murray's Cheese in NYC, attending and eating his way through the Cheesemonger Invitational, hanging out with cheese influencers like Cheese Sex Death (one of my favorites online), traveling the California Cheese Trail (totally a goal of mine, though as a native Californian, I was appalled that the author didn't know California made cheese), and attending world-class cheese events in France and Italy. Through his words, I was vicariously there, and left desperately craving the cheeses he describes.

Throughout everything, he is easy to relate to, modest, and hilarious. Some choice quotes include:

"I wanted to run outside doing full Kermit-arms and scream for everybody to try this cheese right now, which probably wouldn't be the weirdest thing anyone overheard on Bleecker Street that day."

"Cheese is literally heaven. It's what happens after milk sheds this mortal coil and ascends to a higher plain of existence."

Seriously, if you love cheese, get this book.… (mehr)