Once again, true love found a whey in our 2013 cheese-love poetry contest.

As usual, entries spanned from the impish to the outright racy, but in the end, three were chosen:

wendyleek was the soul of brevity with her three line pun-fest, while Coffee Lover charmed some of our judges with her innocent simplicity. Finally, monger Gordon Edgar's elegant sestina took the prize for its deeply felt examination of a life working in cheese.

It's that time again! Time to pen your poetic verses on the subject all of us know and love: cheese. That's right, our annual Valentine's Poetry contest is officially underway! We're appreciative of any style -- send us your haikus, free verse, limericks, sonnets, pantoums, whatever. Silly or serious, we'll take it, as long as it's inspired, and full of cheesy goodness (or hilarity, irony, declarations of love, whatever).

To submit your poem, sign in or sign up for the website, and leave a comment on this blog! All entries must be received by Monday, February 11th. The lucky winners will recieve a Fresh Goat Cheese Heart from Coach Farm (pictured). Need some inspiration? Check out last year's winners.

Good luck!

After a period of reflection and repair in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the judges have reached their decision on our 2012 Scary Dairy Contest.

First prize goes to Erin Thorne's gooey tale of cheese voodoo

Dave Goudsward:

Erin Thorne's story "I'm Melting" starts strong, establishes characterization right off the bad and ends with the perfect blend of horror and dairy. The cheese is integral to the plot without being obvious.

Amanda Affrunti:

Erin Thorne, with her tale of scorned love and Voodoo dolls of cheddar, wins first place. Her original idea and clever execution (of the words and of the antagonist) made the perfect Scary Dairy tale.

Kristi Petersen Schoonover:

What is Scary Dairy? It's the rasp of a grater wielded by a mad monger, a ghostly image imprinted on the face of the pizza, the cold panic of losing your bread in the burbling depths of the fondue.

Scary Dairy is our annual Halloween short story contest.

The rules are simple: spin a spooky cheese-centric tale of terror in the comment thread below, ~500 words or less. The best story will win a bag of cheesy Halloween tricks and treats. We will pick a winner November 1st.

Just a reminder: our deadline for our Thanksgiving Recipe Contest is Sunday, October 28.

If your goat cheese dish is one of the three deemed turkey-worthy, Laura Chenel's Chevre will send this for your conucopia:

Three varieties of LCC's fabulous fresh and aged goat milk cheeses, along with some luscious Gravenstein Apple Chutney and a spicy Fig Jam from their neighbors here in Sonoma, California. It's a seductive pairing, guaranteed to win over fans of football, parade floats, and pumpkin pie alike.

So what're you waiting for? Check the full rules here, and send your recipe to thanksgiving@culturecheesemag.com!

It's nearly that time of year again. The family gathers, sounds of football playing in the background. The table is set. It groans with food: the massive brown bird, the hot stuffing, rich with gravy. Potatoes, sweet and mashed. Pies, at least pumpkin, or sweet potato; sometimes apple and more.

WHAT'S MISSING FROM THIS PICTURE?

It's cheese.

This is odd, because according to the Plymouth Plantation museum, as early as 1627 the Plymouth colony had quite a dairy herd:

Boska USA, purveyors of fine cheese gadgetry and upholders of great European cheese traditions, recently sent along a sweet set of photographs of an event they'd held with the help of Jason Sobocinski, host of the Cooking Channel's The Big Cheese. Now, besides looking overwhelmingly delicious, the photos got me thinking—especially this one:

And the winner is...

Evan Kendall, of Carlisle PA!

It was a tough call, and judges were divided on the sandwich itself. While I waxed nostalgic for the Frankenfood of my own college days, at least one of our panel felt the soup/sandwich/condiment combo was "kinda gross."

Despite this, the general consensus was that Evan showed clear enthusiasm for the great American grilly (as befits a self-described beer & cheese geek), and significant ingenuity in raising the culinary level at the Dickinson College cafeteria. It was this bold and hearty spirit, as well as his bearded punim, which finally won our hearts.

Plus, of all the entries, he was the one most clearly in need of help.

Update: contest closed! The judges are conferring

Competition is heating up for our Grilled Cheese Photo Contest. Folks are sending in photos of themselves with their master- or monster-piece grillies, competing to the grand prize: a stylish Romano grater, fabulous cheese curler, and innovative partyclette from Boska USA:

Five runners up will also receive Boska's no-fuss, sandwich-ready toastabags, which can make grilled-cheese in your pop-up toaster for near-instant grilly satisfaction:

April is National Grilled Cheese Month, and in honor of the great grillie, culture is teaming up with Boska, and asking you to show us your sammich!

Entries are pouring in. Click to see our proud grilled-cheese eaters!

Everyone has one perfect way to make a grilled cheese... and we want to see it! Send us a picture of yourself brandishing your favorite grilly and you could win fabulous Dutch-design cheese tools from Boska Holland.

Is it a simple white-bread & American-slice traditional? Is it made with Grandma's secret-recipe home-baked bread? Tomatoes, bacon or Worcestershire sauce? Dipped in soup or eaten straight up?