Course Spotlight: Artisan Cheeses of the World

A course centered entirely around cheese? You aren’t dreaming, it’s real! Taught by Kimi Ceridon, Instructor for the Artisan Cheese Program at Boston University and owner of Live Love Cheese, this class provides an in-depth exploration of the styles and production of cheeses from local to far-reaching regions worldwide. The class is a blend of tastings, experiential classwork, discussion and lectures on cheese, the cheese industry, and cheesemaking. Successful completion of the course will result in a Certificate in Cheese Studies from Boston University.

With an emphasis on understanding the production of cheese, you’ll learn about everything from culturing to affinage, and how variations in each process (and those in between) affect its organoleptic properties. You’ll also use cheese as a case study in historical and cultural contexts to better understand the relationship and connections between people and food. As an experiential class with hands-on classwork and in-class tastings, each day of class will be exciting, challenging and different, from the cheeses of Southern France one day to a guest panel of cheese experts the next. And later in the semester, you’ll take part in a full-day ethnographic tours of cheesemaking farms in New England. You’ll visit farms in Vermont to meet with cheesemakers and staff, tour the farm dairy and cheesemaking facility, and observe the cheesemaking process.

Running again in Spring 2025, this course is open to both BU Gastronomy students and non-credit students. Learn more and register here.

We caught up with Kimi for a deeper look inside the program:

What made you want to lead the cheese program?

I initially entered the Gastronomy program because I was interested in local food systems. While earning my MLA, I took the Artisan Cheese Program, and I was immediately excited about how artisanal cheese was. This product encompasses so much about local food systems, from ecology to small family farms to the circular economy to consumers connecting with local foods and makers. There’s also the nerdy part of me that loved cheese. I have a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from MIT. While I left the STEM field, I still loved science and cheese is this awesome intersection between science and food. It takes science and craft to turn milk, enzymes, molds, cultures and salt into thousands of distinct varieties of cheese. Cheese is magical like that. And, of course, cheese is also super yummy.

What is your favorite thing about interacting with students in the course?

The students are really the best part about the Artisan Cheese class. Everyone is so excited about this magical food product. Everyone has a nostalgic connection to something cheesy. Everyone loves to talk about what they taste and feel when they taste cheese. Cheese is this sensory product that encompasses so much and the students love sharing about it.


What are you most excited for this spring semester?

I expanded the curriculum from six weeks to fourteen weeks last spring. It was a lot of work to create this new format and so much of that first semester was trying to get it to all come together and make sense to everyone in the class. While I’m really proud of what I created, most of it went by in a whirlwind. Last semester was fun for everyone but also stressful for me. So, I am looking forward to being present with the class and students and enjoying the all the work I put into this. But the best part of every semester is the field trip to visit cheesemakers. I really amped up that part of the class last year and I always love meeting these amazing people doing what they love!

What do you hope students will come away with after taking this course?

One of my main goals with the new curriculum was to really give students a strong foundation in cheese, touching on the science, the sensory, the geography, the history, the industry and the people. I want students to leave with a broad overview of how the artisan cheese industry is an incredible example of an interconnected local food system.



What are some of your former students up to now?

One of my former students is opening her own cheese shop. Another just emailed me from the Azores to tell me about a cheese she got to taste. It happened to be one I wrote about in Culture Magazine. Other students are continuing their careers as cheese mongers and really excelling at them. I met some during the American Cheese Society Conference this year. I’ve done workshops for other student’s families and organizations. Others are continuing their cheese journeys. I ran into a student at the Massachusetts Cheese Fest. I hear from my students all the time. This is how cheese works. Everyone loves cheese and they love sharing about their cheese journeys. It’s a community and I think that’s why so many students stay in touch!


In 2024, Kimi Ceridon, the founder of Life Love Cheese, made Culture Magazine’s Hot List of Cheese Professionals for her work educating people about the magic of cheese. Kimi received her MSME from MIT in 2001. She spent over a decade in tech before saying “Goodbye” to the cubicle and starting culinary school. She has an MLA in Gastronomy and an Artisan Cheese Certificate from BU. She’s also trained in cheesemaking at Sterling College alongside Jasper Hill. Now, she is an artisan cheese instructor at BU. Her company, Life Love Cheese, focuses on highlighting American cheese makers and artisans with a special emphasis on the Northeast. Look for her new store opening in Wakefield this Winter.

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