For the Love of Cheese

Photo by Christine Han

This month’s newsletter is dedicated to a pioneer of the slow food movement.  Anne Saxelby’s love of cheese was born out of an internship on a dairy farm where she learned how cheese was made and she never looked back.  She was compelled to let restaurants know of the incredible cheese being made right here in America that wasn’t the commercially processed kind. 

This was some time ago so those of you not in the know or who have forgotten, “fancy” cheese was once only the European kind and American cheese was considered to be the stuff you bought wrapped in plastic in single slices, if not squeezed out of a pressurized can.  So if you’ve ever had a curated cheese plate in a NY restaurant in the past 14 years with American artisanal cheese on it it’s because of Anne.  Anne is the reason cheese counters are even able to carry American made cheeses.  She’s the reason so many small dairy farms can still exist and be sustainable small businesses.  In the New York Times, chef and restaurateur Dan Barber of Blue Hill even named his cheese plate the Saxelby plate for her role in making American made cheese known to be worthy of standing on its own. Yet, for all the work she did to elevate American made cheese she was so completely lacking in pretense no cheese was considered too good it couldn’t be eaten on a humble Ritz cracker.  

Her love of cheese has helped connect so many and helped to support small businesses, family farms and local economies. She is a perfect example of a generous spirit. And not just because of what she did for cheese. She was the first entrepreneur to ever sit down with me to share how she started her business through her passion and later developed her business acumen. She didn’t stop there.  While working with her business partner Benoit Breal in Saxelby Cheese and being a loving mother to her 3 children and wife to fellow entrepreneur Patrick Martin of Heritage Foods, she was the head of the Essex Street Market vendor association to ensure they would not get priced out of the new more upscale market.  She also authored her own book The New Rules of Cheese and illustrated her mother Pam Saxelby’s most recent children's books. 

Her family and the world tragically lost Anne earlier this month to an unknown heart condition, this amazing woman and incredible soul who touched the lives of so many .

To honor Anne:

Family and friends of Anne Saxelby have established the Anne Saxelby Legacy Fund to provide training opportunities to financially distressed teenagers and young adults. Funds raised will allow youth to apprentice in sustainable systems and agriculture, domestically and abroad, the way Anne did. These opportunities can enable youth participants to return home and have the same impact on their communities that Anne had in hers.

For the love of slow food; for the love of cheese; for the love of my dear friend Anne please consider making a contribution.