Some of you that read my past article about being vegan are probably confused now by the fact that I’m writing about the Cheese Club. But alas, I have my reasons. Two reasons, actually. My first reason is that people have differing opinions, and just because I don’t eat cheese doesn’t mean anything. Plenty of people love cheese, and I did too about a year ago. I didn’t want to force my opinions on others in the past article. My second reason is that, a while ago, the Hill News made a little teasing remark about this club (saying it’s not a realistic club), and I’m here to set the record straight.  So this is the club of cheese, if you please.

First of all, the club was started by Arla Casselman, Levi Keszey, Sean Heaton, Lydia Noto, and Maeggie Rooney in the beginning of this spring. These cheese-lovers thought there should be a high-society gathering of fellow cheese connoisseurs that like rating cheeses based on the PSTS method. PSTS stands for Poke Smell Taste Savor. They test the texture and how hard the cheese it, and by allowing oxygen into their mouths while savoring the different cheeses, they can taste the real taste. The more saliva in their mouth, the more rich the taste. Their cheese bible is The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cheese of the World by Steve Ehlers and Jeanette Hurt; any cheesy questions of origin can be found in their book. Then, at the end of the night, everyone tips their hat to the cheese they appreciate, and they thumb their nose or bite their thumb at the ones they really don’t like. Levi Keszey considers the cheese-tasting meetings like a science experiment, the only variable being the cheese. The crackers stay the same and the musician playing stays the same (the night I went featured musicians Jerry Garcia and David Grisman). They don’t like mixing flavors (they even worried about mixing knives).

The group now consists of about 30 people per meeting whom meet Wednesdays at 9:30pm, always at the Dub (not the Hub; the Women’s Resource Center), always with new cheeses. Their slogan of sorts, “You cheddar brie there,” seems to be self-explanatory for all you cheese enthusiasts out there that didn’t know about the club beforehand.

If you want a club that has good food and fine conversation that avoids topics of school work (“It’s like a sauna,” the crew joked), check out cheese club. And if you’ve got a craving for cheese and crackers, and you’re not a vegan (yet), swing on by the Cheese Club. You can help them cut the cheese (sorry; I had to)!

-Riley Spellman

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