TL;DR
Get kitchen gear delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
Former commercial cheesemaker Trevor Warmedahl left his Seattle job and began traveling in 2019 to learn about traditional cheesemaking and the communities sustaining it. His experiences in Mongolia and Georgia show how rare cheeses are tied to local landscapes and cultural practices; the scale of his project and what he plans to do next are not specified in the report.
Trevor Warmedahl, a former commercial cheesemaker from Seattle, has spent years traveling to remote communities to document traditional cheese and dairy practices, according to a BBC travel report. His work has taken him from Mongolia’s steppe to Georgia’s Tusheti mountains, where he lived and worked alongside herders whose methods connect food production with local history, livestock and landscape.
Warmedahl told the BBC that his journey began after he realized that, as a commercial cheesemaker, he was working with milk from animals he had never seen. He left his job and, in 2019, arrived in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He later lived in a yurt and spent time with a herder family on the Zavkhan grassland, learning to milk yaks and make aaruul, a dried, sweet-and-sour dairy food.
He described dairy as culturally significant in Mongolia. Before cheesemaking, women he met flicked milk into the air in a gesture of respect known as a milk libation. At homes he visited, whey was cooked over central hearths and fresh byaslag cheese was served. Warmedahl also observed dairy offerings at shrines, where they represented purity.
In Georgia, Warmedahl traveled to Tusheti, a mountain region near Russia, to spend time with shepherds. He watched them milk sheep by hand and make Tushuri guda, a feta-like cheese aged in inside-out sheepskins. At the end of the season, he said, he walked about 130km (81 miles) with the shepherds and their flock of 300 sheep as they moved out of the valley.
How Cheese Carries Local History
The report presents traditional cheese as more than a food product: its ingredients, methods and setting can reflect relationships between people, animals and land. Warmedahl argues that farmstead cheeses made only from a farmer’s own animals can reveal how communities work with local conditions and maintain distinctive livestock and food practices.
That matters as food systems become more industrialized and consumers grow more distant from production. Warmedahl says the diversity of heritage livestock is vanishing, and describes pastoral cheesemaking as a way of life that can respond to grazing conditions. These are his views, not a quantified assessment of the sector’s environmental impact. The report gives no data on how many producers or traditions are at risk.
His travels also show how food can provide a point of contact across language barriers. Warmedahl said sharing meals with shepherds helped him connect with them, while the preparation and meaning of dairy products offered insight into local customs. The account suggests that documenting such practices can help make them visible, though it does not establish whether his work has changed their prospects.
Products Worth Considering
Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 14-Cup Food Processor
Ninja Mega Kitchen System Blender and Food Processor, 1500W, 72-oz Pitcher, 8-Cup Bowl, Black (BL770)
Ninja Professional XL 12-Cup Food Processor, NF701
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
From Seattle to Pastoral Communities
Before traveling, Warmedahl worked as a commercial cheesemaker in Seattle. His decision to leave followed a concern about the distance between his work and the animals producing the milk. The BBC report places the start of his travels in 2019, when he went to Mongolia without a fixed long-term plan, moving between volunteer work and opportunities to learn from local producers.
In Mongolia, a chance meeting on a train returning to Ulaanbaatar led to an invitation to stay with a herder family. The summer he spent there, milking yaks and helping with dairy preparation, prompted him to seek out other traditions. In Georgia, he described ancestral cheeses as “fossil cheeses,” a personal term for practices he believes were nearly lost and are now returning amid a wider post-Soviet cultural revival.
The BBC report focuses on Warmedahl’s experiences and interpretations, rather than presenting a survey of global cheese production. It does not provide a full itinerary, a count of the cheeses he has documented or details of a formal research or preservation program.
“Cheese is an edible manifestation of a place.”
— Trevor Warmedahl, speaking to the BBC
The Project’s Reach Remains Unclear
The report does not say how many countries or cheese traditions Warmedahl has documented, whether his travels are ongoing, or what form his work will take next. It also does not provide independent research on the number of traditional producers, the rate at which heritage livestock is declining or the environmental effects of pastoral cheesemaking.
Details about the communities and families he visited are limited to the experiences described in the report. It is not clear whether the producers featured have asked for wider attention, whether the cheeses are commercially available, or whether increased interest would bring benefits or added pressures. Warmedahl’s descriptions of cultural meaning and sustainability are his own, and the report does not test them against other producers’ views.
Further Travel and Documentation
Warmedahl’s next destinations, travel schedule and plans for sharing his documentation were not stated in the report. The article records a journey that began in 2019 and follows his work in Mongolia and Georgia, but does not announce a new project or a specific upcoming milestone.
For now, the account leaves the focus on the cheesemaking practices he has encountered and the people who maintain them. Any next steps—including further travel, publication or collaboration with producers—remain unconfirmed.
Key Questions
Who is Trevor Warmedahl?
Trevor Warmedahl is a former commercial cheesemaker from Seattle who told the BBC he began traveling in 2019 to learn about and document traditional cheesemaking.
What did he learn in Mongolia?
He spent time with a herder family on the Zavkhan grassland, milking yaks and making aaruul, a dried, sweet-and-sour dairy food. He also observed local dairy customs, including a milk libation before cheesemaking.
What is Tushuri guda?
Tushuri guda is a feta-like cheese Warmedahl encountered in Georgia’s Tusheti region. He said shepherds made it from sheep’s milk and aged it in inside-out sheepskins.
Why does Warmedahl say traditional cheese matters?
He sees farmstead cheeses as expressions of local culture and of relationships among livestock, landscapes and communities. He also argues that pastoral cheesemaking can support heritage livestock diversity, though the report does not provide data to measure those effects.
What is Warmedahl doing next?
The report does not specify his next destination or a forthcoming project. Whether he will continue traveling or publish more documentation is not stated.
Source: hn
