Following up on our Supply Chain 101 show with Aaron and Glenn, on the first half of this week’s show Elena goes in-depth with Brie Hurd of The Cheese Shop of Salem on her simple [and brilliant] approach to placing pre-orders as a retail buyer.

"The King of Cheese" or as Elena puts it, "The Queen of Umami" – today's show is all about the wonders of Parmigiano Reggiano. Grace Singleton of Zingerman's Deli sheds light on the Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano-Reggiano and Elena tastes three different parms live, in studio!

Glenn Hills joins new addition to our host team Aaron Foster in studio to talk about supply chain and how cheese gets from the farm to your face. We'll touch on importing rules, what it's like in the crazy halls of Rungis, the miracle of container shipping, the nightmare of FDA / Customs, what a bonded warehouse is and more! We'll learn all about the litany of things that has to go right, just so you can get that perfectly aged, hand made goat cheese from Switzerland in your local cheese shop for a reasonable price.

Tia Keenan is back in studio with Diane for this month's book review. Melt, Stretch, & Sizzle: The Art of Cooking Cheese – the book just landed and it is fierce! With a captivating style the photos take the idea of 'hot cheese' to new places and Tia tells all about her inspiration for the book and her path to pub date.

On this week's episode host Diane Stemple takes a break from book reviews! Diane chats with 2018 DZTA Scholarship winner Eric Meredith about his project vision and how it's coming along so far.

Elena's fascination with cooperative approaches to business turns to cheesemaking as she looks at unique partnerships among Wisconsin cheesemakers. Today's show features Ann Bates of Landmark Creamery and Chris Gentine of The Artisan Cheese Exchange. Find out how friendly neighbors can be the difference between success and failure in cheese distribution, and Chris offers a surprise comparison between hot rodding cars and making cheese

Elena continues to explore the cheese retail landscape! Today's guests are Laura Downey and Chris Palumbo, owners and cheesemongers of Fairfield and Greenwich Cheese Companies in Connecticut and Cheesemonger Box. Elena, Laura and Chris tackle big questions: how can stand-alone independent 'family-sized' cheese retail compete in today's bifurcated marketplace? What is 'the market' for specialty cheese retail in the United States anyway, and how can a small neighborhood shop cultivate the kind of customer interest needed for success?

Aaron Foster's cheese and specialty food shop, Foster Sundry, has made major Bushwick waves since it landed in 2015. A hospitality haven with a serious cheese selection, go now if you haven't yet been! On this week's show Elena chats with Aaron about what led him to open Foster Sundry and how small business ownership is all shaking out. Plus, surprise, Aaron will be joining the Cutting the Curd host team!

Merryl Winstein is the author of Successful Cheesemaking, a book eight years in the making – a true tome to tommes! (Gotta love a cheese pun.) Diane chats with Merryl on this week's show about her experience making her own cheeses and teaching cheesemaking to students over the years. Listeners will get a sneak peek at this extremely detailed collection of cheesemaking recipes and instructions!

The Cheese Board Collective is a fifty-year-old worker-owned cooperative business located in Berkeley, California. On this week's episode Elena chats with worker-owners and cheese buyers Omri Avraham and Linh Nguyen about the collective's unique operational approach. Some highlights: full-time employees get five and a half weeks vacation each year, everyone makes the same wage and every worker owner has the freedom to pursue creative endeavors within the business and outside of it. Elena sheds tears of joy at the mid-show break!