Alex James, the former bassist of the Brit-pop band Blur, and current cheesemaker, has become the face of the British Cheese Board campaign and their quest to find Cheddar its theme song.

Mr James, a former Colchester schoolboy, said: “It’s important to be buying British right now, and cheddar truly represents the best of British cheese as it was invented right here in the UK.

“This is a fun way to support British Cheddar and combine two of the best things in life, in music and cheese.”

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Photo by E. Nekervis

Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic argues that dairy breeding is the perfect lens through which to further the study of genetics. Meticulous breeding records and centralized genetic information has been kept on a number of bulls since the 1960s and there is a small and easily measurable number of traits to follow such as milk production, protein in the milk, and udder quality.

One reason for the change in breeding emphasis is that our cows already produce tremendous amounts of milk relative to their forbears. In 1942, when my father was born, the average dairy cow produced less than 5,000 pounds of milk in its lifetime. Now, the average cow produces over 21,000 pounds of milk. At the same time, the number of dairy cows has decreased from a high of 25 million around the end of World War II to fewer than nine million today. This is an indisputable environmental win as fewer cows create less methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and require less land.

FeLion Studios offers 48 "Made in America" cast iron skillets cast and shaped into the outlines of the 48 contiguous states. And they really all fit together, like a puzzle. At long last you can grill your Wisconsin cheddar cheese sandwich in a Wisconsin shaped skillet!

Enjoy being the life of a party by hamming up your favorite baked and fried delights with state-shaped proportion! FeLion Studio’s cast iron art is a functional example of design concept meeting utility with a fun and social emphasis.

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Photo by FeLion Studios

Yes! We agree Stargate SG-1! Gjetost is wickedly tasty. This Norwegian goat's cheese has been on all our minds lately with two pieces in our Spring 2012 issue - "Norse Discovery" and "Grandmother's Choice" - featuring this caramel-y, brick of goodness and a recent blog post from Susanna also featuring this cheese.

The current Farm Bill is set to expire in five years, and the conversation surrounding the new bill is certainly heated.

By the time the next Farm Bill expires in five years, 125,000 American farmers will have retired. This fact may well be the biggest threat to national food security, but you wouldn’t know it if you’ve been following this year’s Farm Bill hearings...The committee’s worst move was a 50 percent cut to the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. This grant program, originally authorized in the 2008 bill, funds all-important training programs for new farmers, from New Roots for Refugees in Kansas to the Maine Organic Farming and Gardening Association’s Journeyperson program.

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Photo by Bob Jagendorf

The Oscars of the food world presented more than twenty awards to various culinary aficionados on Monday. Among the top winners were Christina Tosi, a crafter of eccentric sweet treats, Daniel Humm, head chef at widely-acclaimed Eleven Madison Park, and Wolfgang Puck, "a pioneer of California cuisine."

The James Beard awards honor those who follow in the footsteps of Beard, considered the dean of American cooking when he died in 1985. Monday's ceremony honored chefs and restaurants; a similar event on Friday was held for book and other media awards.

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Photo by the Huffington Post

Check out this great info-graphic video on the role of dairy farmers in the US economy, community and environment:

Thanks to advancements in genetics, nutrition and animal care, U.S. dairy farmers are able to produce 65% more milk with 1/3 of the cows, all while reducing dairy's carbon footprint. Support U.S. dairy farmers. For more information email Info@DairyFarmersCare.com.

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Photo by Todd Petit

Great article by Pete Wells about Craig Claiborne, the New York Times' first restaurant critic who pretty nigh invented the job. As is noted in the article, Claiborne created the seed that grew into the modern-day "foodie," reviewing restaurants based on the food above all, and skipping the well-worn approach of only visiting the poshest spots:

Claiborne observed everything when he was reviewing, but ultimately he judged restaurants by what came out of the kitchen. As this idea caught on, it became harder to confuse the country’s best restaurants with the ones that were merely favored by the aristocracy. A different hierarchy in dining, ordered by creativity and excellence in cuisine, was slowly taking shape under the guidance of a new aristocracy: an aristocracy of taste. Today, we call members of this aristocracy “foodies.”

Gordon Edgar doesn't like the word "artisan" and after reading his reasoning, you may find that you don't like the word either. Check it out, it's a great post:

In the natural foods world, many small companies became hugely successful creating products in opposition to the processed foods that dominate U.S. supermarkets. Now, of course, many of those companies are owned by the huge corporations* that also make that processed food. Also, increasingly the “artisan” American cheese companies that helped bring us the cheese revolution of the last twenty years are being bought by larger European companies.**

Attention all design buffs! Craft beer cans are the new venue to sport your talents. Check out this year's winners of the "Canny" Awards and keep your eyes peeled for more craft beer tidbits in our summer issue!

Top prize, Craft Can of the Year, went to Bitter American Extra Pale Ale by 21st Amendment Brewery, with second place going to The Corruption IPA by DC Brau and third place to Johnny’s America IPA by Moab Brewery.

The other awards, broken into seven categories including "Best Shelf Presence" and "Best Use of Color," were presented at the Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego, Calif. between May 2 and 5. Winners were selected from quite a large pool -- 231 entries from 83 craft breweries.

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