Meet Deli Cheesemonger Scott Evans
What is a cheesemonger? Just for fun, guess the right answer:
- A farmer who makes cheese.
- An artist who makes sculptures out of cheese.
- An athlete who chases wheels of cheese down mountains.
- A merchant who shares their cheese expertise with shoppers.
Did you guess d? Nice work! That’s what Zingerman’s Delicatessen cheesemonger (aka professional curd nerd) Scott Evans does for a living. He decides which cheeses to buy for the Deli’s specialty food shop and helps customers choose which ones to take home. Pairing a shopper with the perfect cheese is an art. Figuring out how their sense of taste works is the name of the game.
“You can give someone a cheese they walked in wanting but had never heard of, and that they didn’t know how to ask for, if you know how to ask the right questions,” Scott explains.
The key is knowing how to ask “why?” Sometimes, Scott asks why a customer likes a particular flavor. Other times, he explores why they’re drawn to a certain texture. Often, he inquires about how they want to use the cheese.
“Nailing that down is what gives them an extraordinary experience,” Scott says.
Extraordinary cheese experiences weren’t a big part of Scott’s upbringing. Like many Midwesterners, he encountered so much block cheddar that he almost stopped noticing it. As he grew up, he started appreciating more complex flavors, and as he entered the culinary world, he learned how to tease out what shapes people’s gustatory preferences.
An appreciation for “why” questions drew Scott to Zingerman’s in 2019. He’d worked behind the scenes in restaurants, and the Deli’s specialty food shop offered an opportunity to interact with customers face to face. He started specializing in cheese – especially cheese from American producers – in 2021.
“I help people learn that a cheese from Indiana or Wisconsin can be as good as anything you’d find abroad, and that it doesn’t have to be shipped halfway across the world,” Scott explains.
Learning from cheesemakers is one of Scott’s favorite parts of the job. Visiting farms and other producers is a special perk. He’ll never forget his first trip to Wisconsin to watch suppliers work their magic.
“That trip crystallized the value of cheese for me, and how different it is from other products,” he explains. “Cheese is an agricultural product at its core: It’s weather, it’s grass, it’s cows. That makes it regional, seasonal, and something that changes. So much work goes into it, and so many hands touch it. They all influence what you’re ultimately selling.”
Ready to tap into Scott’s expertise? Check out Real Simple’s guide to cheese shopping.
