Literary Elixirs - The Smelly Cheese Shop

Recently I visited Adelaide Writers Week and couldn’t resist popping into the Smelly Cheese Shop for a chat with the lovely Valerie about her amazing cheeses. The Adelaide Central Markets are a wonderfully vibrant, albeit slightly noisy background to this episode, enjoy!

The cheese and the books:

Mons Camembert, Normandy - Summertime, orange highlights, golden and softly clotted, intense and persistent, mouthfillingly fruity, mushroomy, earthy, buttery and meaty, rich and complex.

Underland by Robert Macfarlane

In an epic exploration of the Earth’s underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself this book takes us on a journey into our relationship with darkness, burial, and what lies beneath the surface of both place and mind. The author takes us from the birth of the universe through to a post-human future, from Bronze Age funeral chambers to the catacomb labyrinth below Paris, and from the underground fungal networks through which trees communicate to a deep-sunk “hiding place” where nuclear waste will be stored for 100,000 years to come. Woven through are the unforgettable stories of descents into the underland made across history by explorers, artists, cavers, divers, mourners, dreamers, and murderers.

Like this cheese, Underland is intense, persistent and meaty. It is a journey into wonder, loss, fear, and hope. At once ancient and current, this is a book that could change the way you see the world.

Primavera, Section 28, Adelaide Hills - Spring, floral, dried meadow flowers, beautifully balanced, smooth, rich and buttery, delicate nuttiness and subtle hints of grass.

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

Set in mostly in Italy in the Springtime, four dissatisfied English women find each other - and an Italian castle filled with wisteria - through the classifieds. They expect a pleasant holiday, but they don’t anticipate that the month they spend in Portofino will reintroduce them to their true natures and reacquaint them with joy in their lives. This is a beautiful story, gentle yet with a tartness to it. Somewhat nutty, especially the delightful Lotty, and full of smooth, buttery moments which just linger delightfully in your mind much like this cheese lingers on the palate. It is the essence of Spring and a perfect match to this delicious cheese!

La Tur, Northern Italy - Creamy, runny, oozy, moist, earthy and full, with a tang. 

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert  

A unique love story set in the New York City theatre world during the 1940s told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love. This book is an oozy, decadent and glamorous read, perfect for this cheese.