Say Cheese

When I was little, one of the most comforting smells in the world was a box of Annies Macaroni and Cheese with peas cooking away on the stove. That smell makes me want to curl up on the couch and watch a VHS of some random Disney movie sequel. Maybe The Lion King 1 and 1/2? Maybe Cinderella II?

For the last two months I’ve been working as a full time cheesemonger in training, and one of the best parts of my job is that once a week, while I clean cheese offcuts or work on wrapping quarter wheels of Gouda with saran, I catch a whiff of that smell coming from the kitchen. I know it’s going to be a good day.

My first time working in food service, I was 16 and on the register at Napels Pizza. I took phone orders and folded a trillion boxes. At a whopping 5ft tall, I struggled to lift orders off the top of the double decker ovens. All of my counter working buddies were similarly basically children. I got really good at talking up the Yuengling on tap that I had never tried but assured folks was “just really great.”

There’s something special about working in food when you’re a food lover. I’ve been living adjacently to the field forever (chef mom!) but it’s been so long since food was also a living. Back at 16, while I liked my first ever *job* job, I had no real tie to the pizzas we were sending out the door.

Returning after 11 years, food service hits different when you have more experience at your back. It scratched my brain in a wonderful, tangible way. I connect with colleagues and customers more holistically. I’m realizing how much I’ve learned about myself in this past decade and how deep an impact that knowledge of myself has on joy. On learning. On connection.

I’m finding where in my brain that food love lives. I mean… it’s everywhere. BUT, all of the sudden I’ve begun to feel where home base is, deep in there, tickled by every interaction. It’s floored by new cheese facts, massaged by new scents, pushed by skills that take ages to learn. It is just so happy. So perfectly stimulated. So… whelmed!

Next week I’ll start my next adventure, back at a desk but in a brand new territory – Corporate DEI. I’m doing a good amount of thinking about how we change over time, how we grow, and how we find next steps in life. I’ll be wearing a blazer and heels to the office for my 9-5 and learning a whole new skillset, reframing everything I’ve done as a professional thus far. And then, on the weekends, I’ll slip on my Danskos and tie up my hair and go surround myself with cheese and cheese lovers. Is it the perfect balance? We’ll see. But I relish the moment I’m in: brain full, heart full, eyes open.