Cheese, a milk-derived dairy food, is a highly-valued product whose origin can be traced back to several thousands of years ago. Early accounts of cheese production exist from ancient civilizations in Egypt, Greece and Rome, but it is unclear where the process of cheesemaking first began (Jones et al., 2000). Although cheese is a widespread global commodity today, its presence was originally concentrated in Europe until colonialism made it known to other parts of the world. In 1815, the first modern cheese factory opened in Switzerland, marking the beginning of cheese industrialization (Quackenbush, 2018). In the United States, large-scale production of cheese did not become fully widespread until World War II. Today, processed cheese, which includes many additives in promise of a longer shelf-life, is the primary product of cheese consumption in both America and Europe (McGee, 2004).

Despite the consumption of processed cheese, a strong culture surrounding the making of artisanal, or hand-craft cheese is also on the rise. In the U.S., the number of artisanal cheese makers has doubled since 2000 (Paxson, 2008). Furthermore, membership in the American Cheese Society, which consists of artisan cheese producers and sellers, has increased substantially as well (Paxson, 2008). These cheesemakers use unpasteurized milk, which arguably makes the cheese taste better by preserving the milk’s natural enzymes. In an era where almost everything dairy-related is highly pasteurized, it is hard to believe that raw milk would not receive any backlash. In particular, the FDA has spoken out against the use of raw milk in cheesemaking, referring to the process as a “potential biohazard” (Paxson, 2008). This has resulted in the creation laws that require cheese to be aged for at least 60 days before being sold.

Cheese is a unique commodity because its characterization depends on many levels of criteria, beginning with age and moisture content, followed by fat content and curing methods. Other factors that influence the variety of cheese production include the type of milk, flavor, and country or region of origin (Fox et al., 2000). The moisture content of cheese, which depends on the tightness of its mould and length of fermentation, determines its level or softness or hardness. Typically, a tighter mould and longer preparation time creates a harder cheese (left), while a softer mould and shorter preparation time creates a softer cheese (right).

Furthermore, the milk can stem from a variety of animal sources, including cow, goat and sheep. Cheese serves many different purposes in cooking, and is sold in different forms, including block, sliced, and shredded. The International Dairy Foundation recognizes over 500 different types of cheese, emphasizing the diversity of this commodity in both production and consumption (Jones, 2013).

For my Contemporary Anthropological Theory class, I was tasked with choosing a food commodity and doing optical research on its presence in food stores within the D.C. area. Knowing the great variety that can exist within different types of cheese, I chose to study block cheese in five different grocery stores throughout Northwest Washington, D.C. I began my field work at Whole Foods Market located in Foggy Bottom, the neighborhood that is home to the George Washington University (GW). The variety of options available and well-designed display at Whole Foods fit well with its high-quality caliber as a foodstore. I found a tremendous amount of block cheese options here. I also decided that I was going to focus on Manchego, my favorite type, as an index cheese for comparison throughout the project. At Whole Foods, Manchego was present in different varieties: 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month aged. Leaving Whole Foods, I knew that my block cheese expectations were now set to a high level for the next four stores.

Although I was not expecting as great of a selection of block cheese at Trader Joe’s, I actually found that the selection was almost as large as at Whole Foods. On the other hand, the cheese display at Trader Joe’s appeared to be comparatively less upscale than at Whole Foods. For example, at Whole Foods, each type of cheese had a wheel, on top of which sat the block slices that were being sold. The labels for each cheese were also in black, giving a sleek appearance to the display. However, at Trader Joe’s, all the cheeses were in one large display, without any wheels of cheese separating them from each other. Also, the labels for each cheese were white, and the font for each description appeared as though it was hand-written, giving the display a much more informal look than that of Whole Foods. For the Manchego, I only saw one type, the 3-month aged. The 6-month and 12-month aged cheeses were missing here. This single offering exemplified the lack of variety in the cheese selection at Trader Joe’s compared to Whole Foods.

In my third visit, I went to Dean & DeLuca, an upscale Italian Mart in the center of Georgetown, expecting to find a heaven of cheeses that would far exceed my Whole Foods standards. However, what I found was that the store was much smaller than Whole Foods in general, and its cheese selection was resultantly smaller. It was in fact less than half the size of the display at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. Focusing on the Manchego, I saw a 6-month aged, 12-month aged, and a rosemary-infused Manchego. I did not see any infused Manchego cheeses at Whole Foods, so this selection was certainly unique to Dean & DeLuca. Furthermore, the lack of 3-month aged Manchego, which typically has a lower value than the greater ages, fits well with the store’s image of selling a limited range of high quality products. Thus, although the cheese display was small at Dean & DeLuca, the options still appeared to be on the higher end of the scale. Dean & DeLuca also had a similar display layout as Whole Foods, with the wheels of each cheese present. The labels for each cheese were in white, but their font appeared to be much more professional, and less folksy, than at Trader Joe’s.

The “social” Safeway in the neighborhood of Georgetown was my fourth grocery store of visit. Here, I was shocked to find a cheese display that was as good, if not better than the one at Whole Foods. Unlike any other store so far, this display actually had a name, as it was called Cheese World. I saw a great variety of cheese types here. For Manchego, I found all three kinds: 3-month, 6-month and 12-month aged. Like the display at Whole Foods, most of the cheeses here were displayed on their respective cheese wheels. Something about this Cheese World made me feel like I was buying real artisanal cheese. It could have been the cheese wheels, but perhaps it was the aesthetically appealing display, as the cheeses were packaged with bright colors. These vibrant colors contrasted greatly with the neutral, more earthy colors at the Trader Joe’s display.

For my last grocery store, I came back to Foggy Bottom to visit the CVS on campus. I was not able to find a variety of block cheese selections here at all. Instead, I came across only two brands of block cheese embedded in rows of butter, fake butter and other dairy options. Both cheese options were of the same type: sharp cheddar. The lack of Manchego, or any other cheese besides cheddar, contrasted greatly with the variety of cheese available at other stores. However, CVS is a convenience store, so it is not expected to have the same level of variety in its display. While the other stores emphasized the selling of artisanal cheese, this was clearly not at all the case for CVS, which only sold processed cheese. The two cheese options at CVS were made by Kraft and Cracker Barrel. These companies are both large-scale, industrial corporations that manufacture cheese products which are far lower in quality than the cheeses seen at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Dean & Deluca’s and Safeway. Amazingly, the price for a block of cheddar cheese at CVS was the same as the price for a block of Manchego Cheese at Whole Foods. However, CVS is open 24-hours, and contains many other food and non-food items. Thus, the high price and low quality are tradeoffs for the store’s hallmark aspect of convenience. Theoretically, a person coming into the store in the middle of the night could buy both cheddar cheese and toothpaste at the same time.

Of the five grocery stores I visited, Whole Foods and Safeway were the strongest in their block cheese options and display quality. The appearance of block cheese on the market plays a big role in its perception, inclining cheese buyers to purchase their cheese from more attractive, gourmet displays. I dismiss CVS entirely because it had no real display or craft cheese options. The two available cheeses were manufactured industrially, rather than artisanally. Furthermore, while Trader Joe’s did offer a wide variety of cheese options, its display was not as comparatively appealing, because it was not entirely suggestive of block cheese as a gourmet, handcrafted commodity. The creation of this craft imaginary for cheese consumers is what distinguishes the cheese displays at Whole Foods and Safeway. I would not entirely dismiss Dean & DeLuca, as it still had high-end and unique options such as the rosemary-infused Manchego. However, although the limited selection did not take away from its high-end quality, the small display still failed to create the same level of imaginary seen at Whole Foods and Safeway.

For a store like Whole Foods that brands itself on the high quality of the products it sells, it is only expected that it will have a large and impressive artisanal cheese display. On its online website, the market details the volume of its cheese options, including 32 soft, 10 grating, 10 blue-veined, 74 semi-firm, and 14 fresh cheeses (Johnston, 2007). Altogether, this amounts to over a hundred different options that encompass different sources of milk, lengths of fermentation, and flavors. At the same time, Whole Foods is well-stocked in other commodities as well, making it a great store for shoppers to experience an artisanal cheese selection while buying other groceries.

On the other hand, at Safeway, I was much more surprised to see this vast cheese selection. The extensive block cheese selection is likely related to the location of this particular Safeway in an affluent zip code of Northwest D.C. that includes the neighborhood of Georgetown, where food quality is held to higher standards. Safeway is a national chain, but from personal experience, not all branches offer this Cheese World like the Georgetown branch. It is thus due to its location that this Safeway is comparable to a market like Whole Foods in its cheese selection. Like Whole Foods, this Safeway is also a full supermarket where people do not have to compromise the rest of their grocery shopping to obtain craft cheese. The same can not be said for a specialty store like Dean & DeLuca, or a convenience store like CVS.

From a marketing perspective, Whole Foods and Safeway also did the best job in selling pairings for their cheese options. In both stores, their cheese displays were strategically so close to the crackers and jams that you could not look at the cheese without seeing these pairings as well. Known as upselling, this phenomenon is a clever marketing strategy that not only boosts the market’s own sales, but also enhances the ease of the customer’s cheese selection. Although the cracker aisle in Trader Joe’s is directly across from the cheeses, the cheese display itself is still in isolation, so shoppers may miss this placement while passing through the cheese section. At Dean & DeLuca, a few varieties of crackers and jams are above the cheese display, but a display of sausages in the same refrigerator takes away from the spotlight of the cheese display. At CVS, the cheeses do not even have their own display, and the two options are instead placed next to butter in the general dairy refrigerator. For an avid cheese lover and shopper, these distractive placements are a hindrance to the focus of their cheese selection.

Ultimately, cheese remains one of the most versatile food products in both its production and consumption. Moreover, the U.S. cheese market’s recent focus on craft cheese in particular places more emphasis on in the product’s quality of display. Therefore, stores like Whole Foods in Foggy Bottom and Safeway in Georgetown, which perform an exemplary job in both aspects, deserve positive reputations for being gourmet markets and modern hubs for craft block cheese.

References

Fox, P. F., Guinee, T. P., Cogan, T. M., McSweeney, P. L. H. (2000). Principal Families of cheese. Fundamentals of cheese science, 388. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=oRp5VCVTQQC&pg=PA388#v=onepage&q&f=false

Johnston, J. (2007). The Citizen-Consumer Hybrid: Ideological Tensions and the Case of Whole Foods Market. Springer, 37, 229-270. doi: 10.1007/s11186-007-9058-5.

Jones, G. (2013, January 29). Conversation with a cheesemonger. The Reluctant Gourmet. Retrieved from https://www.reluctantgourmet.com/conversation-with-a-cheesemonger/

McGee, Harold (2004). On Food and Cooking. The science and lore of the kitchen. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=mQgklAEACAAJ&hl=en

Paxon, H. (2008). Post-Pasteurian Cultures: The Microbiopolitics of Raw-Milk Cheese in the United States. American Anthropological Association, doi: 10.1111/j.1548-1360.2008.00002.x