Cheese for the Culture: When Being Strong Isn’t Enough
Illustrated by Iris Busjahn I don’t want to leave my hotel room today. It’s the last day of the American Cheese Society (ACS) conference, and I’m full of emotions. Bubbling up to the surface is disappointment and rage. I should be celebrating and filled with joy! Last night, the Cheese Culture Coalition (CCC) had its […]
How Does the Cheese Industry Join In Community With Marginalized Peoples?
Agela Abdullah the president of the non-profit Cheese Culture Coalition reflects on her experience finding an inclusive cheese community.
Cheese for the Culture: On Cooking Through Grief
Cheese educator Agela Abdullah reflects on using gluten to cook through grief.
Who Gets To Be A Cheese Educator?
To make the cheese industry more equitable requires doing work that makes you feel uncomfortable, consistency, and a commitment to change.
Reflections on a Year: Celebrating the Joys
I’m sitting in the living room of my new apartment, surrounded by the compartmentalization of my life in box form. My kitties are playing tag and are screaming what I imagine translates to “PARKOUR!” I’m listening to the debut album by the Bird and the Bee, and it is during this scene of joy and […]
Entertaining Hobbit Style
While I currently call Chicago home, I spent formative adult years living in Vermont. I miss it. I miss the greenness. I miss the smell of the woods after the rain. I miss the impossibly fluffy snow on trees. I miss all the bucolic beauty, but most of all, I miss my brother. He’s the […]
The Collective Culture of Grief
I’m struggling to write this column. Just a week ago there was a mass shooting in Buffalo, and ten people were murdered because they dared to shop at a grocery store while Black. By the time this piece hits your mailbox the news cycle will have moved on, and many of you will have as […]
Shopping with Intention and More in Portland, OR
Agela Abdullah shares the businesses she’ll be supporting during the 2022 ACS Conference.
Travel Advisory
Di Dove Sei Originaria? As a Black woman navigating a very…homogenized industry, I must be aware that there are many places where my Blackness isn’t appreciated. I’m intentional in my travels, research potential accommodations, and take care of which neighborhoods I visit. I don’t like surprises, and since I often travel alone or am the […]
Cheese for the Culture: We’re Still Here
For my first draft of this column, I started off writing something that I thought would get approved by the editor. I was assertive but was careful to not fall into the “angry Black woman” trope by being too assertive. I told a charming anecdotal story about an incident that happened when I was five. […]
