Artisan Goat Cheese and Food Ideology in the United States

1. Artisan Goat Cheese and Food Ideology in the United States KATY STEWART

2. Summary of Research • My research explores the production of artisan goat’s cheese in Idaho, taking into account the variables of regulations, value of food and environmental philosophy as it builds the food ideology behind the production of cheese. This research is the first half of a project I will continue next summer in Italy, conducting a cross-cultural comparison of the cheese-making cultures.

3. Methods • Participant Observation • Semi-structured Interview • Coding with Outline of Cultural Materials • Analysis in HyperRESEARCH

4. Outline of Cultural Materials 175- History 181 Ethos 181.1- Farmstead value 181.2- counter-cultural food ideals 181.3- Sense of place 181.4- Food Value 185- Cultural goals 185.1- ideal food system 185.2- Size 231- Domesticated animals 231.1- Feeding regimen 231.2- Breeding 231.3- Grooming 231.4-Kid raising 231.5-Herd management 234- Dairying 234.1-Cheese-making process 234.2-Types of cheese 234.3- Milking process 311- Land Use 311.1- Grazing methods 318- Environmental quality 318.1- Environmental protection and conservation efforts 656- Government regulations 656.1- Environmental quality 656.2- Raising livestock 656.3- Cheese-making process 656.4- Cultural issues 656.5- Cleanliness and sanitation 656.6- Packaging and labeling 443-Retail Marketing 443.1-types of retail outlets 820- Ideas about nature and people 821- Ethnometeorology 823- Ethnogeology 825- Ethnozoology 829- Ethnosociology 829.1- Changes in consumer values 829.2- Views of dominant food culture

5. Summary • Regulations • Don’t find them oppressive • Mostly just common sense of keeping things clean • “Can make the exact same style of cheese, do the process the same, and the cheese won’t taste as good.”

6. Summary • Value given to food • Views it as an art • Have to have good treatment of animal (Ethnozoology) and understanding of animal husbandry • Have to understand land and climate to make good food

7. Environmental Values and Sense of Place • High value on sense of place • Conservation and improvement of pastures not top priority, because they produce amazing milk without it

8. Frequencies of Codes in Building Food Ideology

9. Value of Food Topics

10. Conclusions • Incredible amounts of factors that go into production of just one type of cheese • Especially when it’s something that has all the steps of production • Contradiction between ideal “local food” system and the affluent upscale market • Disconnect with the idea of caring for the land and using what the land has to offer