THE CHEESE NUN
I rented this DVD documentary from netflix on a whim, thinking it might be humorous. I had no idea how serious, insightful and unique a story it would reveal. It is the story of Sister Noella Marcellino, a Benedictine Nun. She went to college at Sarah Lawrence in 1969- which just so happens to be the college I am headed off to myself next september. She was liberal and searching for freedom and passion in the world. Her search led her to a Benedictine Monastery, interestingly enough. She explains that she never pictured herself a nun, but it is clear throughout the story that she has a very spiritual personality. Her passion for cheese is gastronomical, scientific, AND spiritual. She spent 12 years in the Monastery, which is also a farm, making cheese and teaching other nuns the craft. She then went back to school at the University of Connecticut to study the fungus that grows on the cheese she makes. She describes how, when fresh and just made, the cheese is quite coarse and flavorless but, after being aged, it grows a dense variety of fungi and develops a complex, earthy flavor. The metabolism of the fungi, she says, contributes to the taste of the cheese. She feels that the variety of fungi in a certain region and cheese cave contributes to cheeses that can be made there. She discovers this hypothesis by travelling france and studying fungus strands, samples from cheese farms all over france, under microscopes. Soon, Sister Noella is known as an expert and called "The Cheese Nun". She attends convention, gives lectures, and stars in this DVD. She beleives in cheeses as a way for humans to connect to, taste, smell, and cultivate the earth. The way she makes cheese is a primitive process that she loves and hopes to preserve- she finds great value in the natural, hand-made process of cheese making, adding both to the taste and spirituality (she occassionally refers to the "soul" of a cheese) of the cheese.
I greatly enjoyed this film and recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the cheese process or engaing in the quirky story of one cheesy nun.
Yet, my own passion for cheese remains predominantly gastronomical and not at all spiritual.