Cheese: Later Developments

The artisan cheese movement in the United States is a recognized phenomenon in the broader food renaissance that also encompasses new vineyards, microbreweries, chocolate, coffee and tea, and many other specialty foods whose dominant characteristics are quality of flavor and handcrafted methods of production. Cheese making by ethnic communities had become moribund by the end of World War II, replaced by industrial practices and mass marketing. But in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a countermovement began that was similar to the practices of small-farm production that had continued in England, reemerged in Ireland, and never disappeared in the Mediterranean countries, where cheese had always been a dietary staple.