A Very Cheesy New Year

The Washington Post has an interesting little feature article about American entrepreneurship in action. A Maryland couple who have done rather well by making cheese. Their product is in demand in high-end cheese shops in Washington, DC and New York City. And they are working on expanding their business.

Now she laughs at the memory as she watches her husband milk several of the couple's 100 Jersey and Holstein cows. To her right is what they hope will become a functioning creamery early next year; Holly now drives to Pennsylvania twice a month to make her unpasteurized cow's milk cheese with the help of an Amish cheesemaker.

Behind her is the garage where she once hand-milked Rainey, her first dairy cow, a Jersey whose face is plastered on virtually every piece of Chapel's cheese. Outside the garage is a van that shuttles the Fosters' four kids around Talbot County on Maryland's Eastern Shore and that also brings back about 500 pounds of cheese after every 200-mile round-trip journey to Pennsylvania. The license plate reads "Cheeses."

Which all seems rather amusing to two unlikely cheesemakers. Holly, 37, was born on the Eastern Shore but had never handled a cow before she met Eric in 1988; the first time she was surrounded by cows, she froze in terror. Eric, 36, grew up on his father's dairy farm, trains racehorses for a living and has spent much of his life around animals, but he, well . . .

"I hated cheese," he says. "Kind of a crazy world, isn't it?"

It's a nice little story. Which, of course, brings us to another article from another source that provides a cautionary note. The Telegraph reports on the latest nanny state progress being made in Britain. It seems that cheese has been labeled as junk food with the start of the New Year. No, really.

New advertising rules that will officially label cheese as "junk food" were condemned yesterday by the dairy industry as unfair, misleading and counter-productive.

Under regulations coming into force this month, broadcasters will be banned from advertising cheese during children's television programmes or in shows with a large proportion of child viewers, such as The Simpsons and Hollyoaks.

The ban is part of a government drive to crack down on junk food adverts on television, which is designed to reduce the exposure of children to foods high in fat, salt and sugar.

It follows evidence that TV commercials have an indirect impact on children's eating behaviour and are contributing to the obesity epidemic.

It isn't just cheese, either. There are a few other foods that have been caught by the ban:

Marmite, Flora Lite, half-fat cheddar cheese, Dairylea triangles, bran flakes, camembert, sugar-coated puffed wheat, instant hot oat cereal, Jaffa cakes, reduced calorie mayonnaise, multi-grain hoop cereal, half-fat creme fraiche, takeaway chicken nuggets, potato waffles, Greek yoghurt (sheep), ham, sausages, bacon rashers, low-fat spreads, peanuts, cashew nuts, pistachio nuts, peanut butter, raisins, sultanas, currants, low-fat potato crisps, olive oil, butter, pizza, hamburgers, tomato ketchup, chocolate, brown sauce, cola, lemonade.

Note that a lot of the products listed are actually promoted as healthy in this country. For now. While Britain is currently ahead in the Nanny State Sweepstakes®, New York City is trying hard to narrow the gap. So my advice to Holly and Eric Foster is to enjoy your success while you can. The food police are closing in.