Adam Robertson
Ned Palmer is the author of the incredible, bestselling and marvellous A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles (Profile Books, 2019) which has attracted countless reviews and was shortlisted for both the Andre Simon Food Writer’s Awards and the Fortnum & Mason Debut Food Book Award. It’s a book that takes us on a delicious journey across Britain and Ireland and through time to uncover the histories of beloved old favourites like Cheddar and Wensleydale and fresh innovations like the Irish Cashel Blue or the rambunctious Renegade Monk. Along the way we learn the craft and culture of cheesemaking from the eccentric and engaging characters who have revived and reinvented farmhouse and artisan traditions. And we get to know the major cheese styles – the blues, washed rinds, semi-softs and, unique to the British Isles, the territorials – and discover how best to enjoy them, on a cheeseboard with a glass of Riesling, or as a Welsh rarebit alongside a pint of Pale Ale. Ned worked at Neal’s Yard for seven years selling cheese, talking about cheese and looking after cheese in a cellar in Covent Garden. In 2012 he set up The Cheese Tasting Company to deliver tastings to private and corporate audiences. He has worked with the Jamie Oliver Foundation, The British Epicurean Society, The Vintner, Laithwaites, and craft breweries like Brew by Numbers and Gypsy Hill Brewery. Ned’s tastings feature intriguing and delicious cheese and drink pairings, enticing and esoteric stories of cheese and cheesemaking both ancient and modern, and loads of delicious artisanal cheese.