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Jared Kaufman
Creator, The Cheese Zine
Minnesota
Jared Kaufman approaches cheese as both subject and medium. A food writer, educator, and creator of The Cheese Zine, he has built a body of work that uses cheese to explore broader questions about culture, identity, and how we relate to what we eat.
After getting his start behind the counter at shops such as American Provisions in Massachusetts and Minneapolis’ France 44, Kaufman quickly realized that cheese offered more than product knowledge—it was an entry point into storytelling. That perspective deepened through his academic work in food studies, where he examined how taste shapes perception, from kids’ menus to the social signals embedded in everyday food choices.
Today, through writing, teaching, and printmaking, Kaufman continues to translate the world of cheese into something both thoughtful and approachable, proving that even the smallest wedge can open up much larger conversations.
OK, so why cheese?
I’ve always been drawn to food in one way or another. As a kid, I was playing in the sink with dishes; in high school, I had a truly cringeworthy food review channel on YouTube.
I fell into cheese about eight years ago while I was in grad school and needed a job. But once I got behind the counter, I realized pretty quickly that cheese wasn’t just a side job. It’s infinite. You never run out of things to taste or stories to tell.
How does your academic work shape the way you think about cheese?
My research focuses on how the values we attach to food reflect back onto the people eating it. What we choose to eat—or not eat—signals identity, culture, and social boundaries.
Cheese is a great entry point into those conversations. It’s a way to get people curious, and then to push that curiosity further into thinking about food systems, labor, and culture more broadly.
What was it like competing in the Cheesemonger Invitational?
It was incredible. The event has this perfect mix of quirkiness and deep knowledge.
Getting to stand onstage at Brooklyn Steel and talk about Chällerhocker to a packed room—with [maker] Walter Räss in the audience—was surreal. That doesn’t happen anywhere else.
What inspired you to start The Cheese Zine?
It started with a fondue workshop and a slideshow I made. Someone pointed out it was basically already a zine.
I think they meant it as a one-off idea—but I ran with it and launched the whole project that night.
How do your roles in journalism, cheese, and printmaking intersect?
Food is often the through line. Whether I’m writing, teaching, or printing, I’m using cheese as a way to tell personal and cultural stories.
The zine lets me go deeper—and sometimes weirder—than I might in other formats, which I really appreciate.
Who is your cheese hero?
Adam Moskowitz. He embodies what it means to use cheese to connect with people—and has an incredible ability to turn wild ideas into reality.
What’s the biggest cheese faux pas?
Thinking you need a bunch of expensive tools to enjoy it. You don’t.
Get a good piece of cheese, share it with people you love, and everything else will follow.
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