Sid Cook From Cheddar to Art
Sid Cook grew up in his father's crossroads cheese factory. Literally! He rode his tricycle around the vats while men in white stirred, smelled, touched and tasted the cheese being made. He remembers sitting under the card table while his father and cheesemaker uncles played cards and talked cheese. He used to go into his father's cheese cellar and sneak samples then try and cover his tracks so no one would know. Sid remembers the way cheese tasted a long time ago. But, when he went off to college, his father didn't think he'd return to the 130-year family business and become a cheesemaker. Think again!
In the last six years alone, Sid Cook has won over 400 national and international awards for his cheese artistry. Sid has taken cheesemaking to a new level, creating art out of milk. Art that tastes really, really good.
Sam Cook decided to become a cheesemaker over 70 years ago when he noticed that farm boys like him worked in the cold and the rain while the guy in the cheese factory stayed dry and warm. It was inside work and a desirable career move for a young man seeking to leave the farm.
My conversation with retired cheesemaker Sam Cook, the 92-year old father of Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Sid Cook, allowed me to visit a time I thought that had long disappeared.
Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board 8418 Excelsior Dr. Madison, WI 53717 (608) 836-8820 feedback@wmmb.org
Madison, WI 53717