I love Wallace and Gromit. I also love cheese. (āIām just crackers about cheese!ā) Once upon a time, before we had kids, my husband and I ventured into the middle of deepest, darkest Houston, Texas, to visit a very large specialty wine and cheese shop. There was a whole aisle just for chocolate, another whole aisle just for olive oil, and a locked display cabinet of very expensive caviar, but what made my day was that as I gazed droolingly into the cheese case, which seemed to be about as long as a city block, what should I see but Wallace and Gromit gazing right back at me. Their image was on the wrapper of a Wensleydale cheese! Imagine my delight. Of course, I bought it and brought it home, shared it with extended family, and bestowed the wrapper upon my father, who took it to his place of employment and pinned it up on the notice-board. For all I know, Wallace and Gromit are there still, twentyish years later, blessing everyone who sees them.
Now, my children love Wallace and Gromit, too. There is something sacred about being able to pass down to oneās children oneās favorite bits and pieces of life. I feel the need to find some Wensleydale and share that with them next.
Thanks for sharing this. For all the concerns I have about the way that globalisation works, there is something very magical to me about Wensleydale cheese bringing delight to people so far away in Texas.
The delight that people all over the world have taken in Wallace and Gromit has done a lot to revive Wenslydale's fortunes too. It's a strange world that we live in!
I grew up and have lived in the suburbs. The analogous "cheese" of the suburbs is Velveeta. It isn't even cheese but rather "cheese food." If you've ever tasted Velveeta, you've tasted the American suburbs. Either that, or the powdered cheese packets of Kraft macaroni and cheese.
I love Wallace and Gromit. I also love cheese. (āIām just crackers about cheese!ā) Once upon a time, before we had kids, my husband and I ventured into the middle of deepest, darkest Houston, Texas, to visit a very large specialty wine and cheese shop. There was a whole aisle just for chocolate, another whole aisle just for olive oil, and a locked display cabinet of very expensive caviar, but what made my day was that as I gazed droolingly into the cheese case, which seemed to be about as long as a city block, what should I see but Wallace and Gromit gazing right back at me. Their image was on the wrapper of a Wensleydale cheese! Imagine my delight. Of course, I bought it and brought it home, shared it with extended family, and bestowed the wrapper upon my father, who took it to his place of employment and pinned it up on the notice-board. For all I know, Wallace and Gromit are there still, twentyish years later, blessing everyone who sees them.
Now, my children love Wallace and Gromit, too. There is something sacred about being able to pass down to oneās children oneās favorite bits and pieces of life. I feel the need to find some Wensleydale and share that with them next.
Thank you for the essay.
Thanks for sharing this. For all the concerns I have about the way that globalisation works, there is something very magical to me about Wensleydale cheese bringing delight to people so far away in Texas.
The delight that people all over the world have taken in Wallace and Gromit has done a lot to revive Wenslydale's fortunes too. It's a strange world that we live in!
I grew up and have lived in the suburbs. The analogous "cheese" of the suburbs is Velveeta. It isn't even cheese but rather "cheese food." If you've ever tasted Velveeta, you've tasted the American suburbs. Either that, or the powdered cheese packets of Kraft macaroni and cheese.
'Cheese food' is definitely a revealing term. Broad enough to encompass almost anything!
Cheese food and a humane Civilization are entirely incompatible. Velveeta is the harbinger of our collective demise! :)