About the last place you expect to find real experts on cheese is behind a supermarket cheese counter but I was amazed to find not only one but two such paragons in my local branch of Waitrose in the Henleaze neighbourhood of Bristol.First there was Hilary Margolan (in the rather fuzzy picture above) who knowledgeably discussed the fat content of different curd cheeses, compared two different red-wine washed cheeses (the fact that Waitrose stocks two is pretty remarkable in itself) and discussed which goats cheese would be best for crumbling over a pasta
Then she was joined by her boss Richard Perry who turns out to give talks on cheese to local groups as diverse as the girl guides and the local twinning committee.
Neither is - how shall I put this tactfully - a spring chicken (Hilary told me she was a nurse for 40 years) but both have a real passion for their subject you'd be lucky to come across in a specialist cheese shop. Clever Waitrose and lucky me.
2 comments:
couldn't agree with you more regarding your comments about the two unsung cheese heroes. It is so refreshing to find such enthusiasm, and as you say in a supermarket! Mind you, you wouldn't expect anything else from Waitrose. If I want cheese for a dinner party or for any other reason I always go and get advise from them. I urge everyone who wants cheese advise to follow your advise and go to that branch of Waitrose.
well, I like independent cheese shops too but it's great to find two such gems in a supermarket!
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