and fresh cheeses blended with emulsifiers
and repasteurized, is now larger than the
market for “natural” cheese, which itself is
almost exclusively factory-made.
At the beginning of the 21st century, most
cheese is an industrial product, an expression
not of diverse natural and human particulars,
but of the monolithic imperatives of
standardization and efficient mass production.
Industrial cheese also requires great
ingenuity, has its economic merits, and suits
its primary role as an ingredient in fast-food
sandwiches, snacks, and prepared foods (a
role that doubled U.S. per capita cheese
consumption between 1975 and 2001). But in
its own way, industrial cheese is a throwback
to primitive cheese, a simplified food that
could be and is made anywhere, and that
tastes of nowhere in particular.
The Revival of Tradition and Quality
Though finely crafted cheeses will always be