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Trevor Warmedahl, a former commercial cheesemaker, has spent years travelling to remote communities to document traditional cheesemaking. His reporting describes practices in Mongolia and Georgia and argues that farmstead cheeses carry cultural knowledge and depend on relationships among people, animals and landscapes.
A former Seattle commercial cheesemaker, Trevor Warmedahl has spent years travelling to remote communities to document traditional cheeses and the ways they are made, according to a BBC Travel report. His accounts from Mongolia and Georgia show how cheesemaking practices are tied to local herding, belief and landscape, as industrial production places pressure on heritage livestock and food traditions.
Warmedahl told BBC Travel that he left commercial cheesemaking after realising he worked with milk from animals he had never seen. In 2019, he went to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and later lived with a herder family on the Zavkhan grassland. He described rising before dawn to milk yaks, moving livestock on horseback and making aaruul, sweet-and-sour curds that are dehydrated.
He also observed dairy practices with religious and social meaning. In Mongolia, he saw women flick milk into the air before making cheese, a gesture he described as a milk libation. At homes, whey was heated over central hearths and fresh byaslag was served. He said dairy products were also offered at shrines as symbols of purity.
In Georgia’s Tusheti region, Warmedahl spent time with shepherds making Tushuri guda, a feta-like cheese aged inside-out in sheepskins. He described sheep being milked by hand into wooden pails and said he walked about 130 kilometres (81 miles) back down the valley with shepherds and their flock at the end of the season. These are his reported observations; the article does not present them as a survey of all cheesemaking in either country.
Cheese Links Herding and Heritage
Warmedahl’s travels draw attention to a form of food production that carries knowledge beyond a recipe: seasonal movement, animal care, local ingredients and customary techniques. His description of cheese as an “edible manifestation of a place” reflects his view that taste and production can preserve parts of a community’s history and relationship with its land.
The issue also has practical relevance. Warmedahl argues that grazing animals can turn vegetation into milk across varied landscapes, and that pastoralism may adapt to conditions such as climate uncertainty and desertification. That is his assessment, not evidence in the report of a measured climate benefit. He also warns that industrialisation is reducing livestock diversity, making the continuation of local farmstead practices a concern for cultural heritage and agricultural diversity.
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From Seattle to Remote Herding Camps
Warmedahl’s project began with a change in perspective on his own work. As a commercial cheesemaker in Seattle, he used milk without seeing the animals that produced it. He said the disconnect prompted him to leave his job and seek out cheesemakers working more directly with their own herds and local conditions.
His route was not laid out as a formal research programme. The report says he moved between volunteer work and opportunities that took him to remote places. In Mongolia, a train journey across the Gobi and an invitation from a local resident led him to a herder family. In Georgia, he followed vague directions into a mountain valley to reach shepherds’ seasonal camp. Warmedahl calls some Georgian traditions “fossil cheeses”, describing practices he believes were close to disappearing and are now returning amid a wider post-Soviet cultural revival.
The report also describes his encounter with Norway’s gammelost, a strongly flavoured, mould-ripened cheese. Warmedahl said he did not enjoy it at first, but uses the experience to argue that tastes are learned and shaped by culture. His advice is to try an unfamiliar food more than once, while approaching it through genuine interest rather than treating it as a novelty.
“Cheese is an edible manifestation of a place.”
— Trevor Warmedahl, speaking to BBC Travel
The Reach of the Traditions
The report offers Warmedahl’s personal account of specific visits, not a comprehensive assessment of how widespread these methods remain or how quickly they may be changing. It does not give figures for the number of producers, herds or heritage breeds involved, nor does it quantify the effects of industrialisation or climate change on the communities he visited.
It is also unclear from the report what documentation, if any, is being collected beyond Warmedahl’s travel accounts, or whether the cheesemakers he met have plans to pass their practices on to younger generations. His claim that pastoral cheesemaking can be sustainable is a perspective he gives in the interview; the report does not provide comparative environmental measurements.
Further Journeys and Documentation
The BBC report does not announce a forthcoming expedition, publication or project deadline for Warmedahl. It describes an ongoing personal effort to find and document traditional cheesemaking, with his travel choices shaped by local introductions and opportunities. Any future destinations or plans have not been specified in the material provided.
For readers, the immediate next step is to treat the stories as an invitation to learn about the producers and communities behind particular foods, rather than as a definitive catalogue of endangered cheeses. The status of the traditions Warmedahl encountered will depend on developments not detailed in the report, including whether local herders continue making these cheeses and how their livelihoods and landscapes change.
Key Questions
Who is Trevor Warmedahl?
Trevor Warmedahl is a former commercial cheesemaker from Seattle who has travelled to document traditional cheesemaking practices, according to BBC Travel.
Which cheeses does the report describe?
Among the cheeses and dairy foods described are Mongolian byaslag and dehydrated aaruul, Georgia’s sheep’s-milk Tushuri guda, and Norway’s gammelost.
What makes Tushuri guda distinctive?
Warmedahl described Tushuri guda as a feta-like cheese made by shepherds in Georgia’s Tusheti region and aged inside-out in sheepskins. His account is based on his time with the shepherds.
Does the report show that traditional cheesemaking is disappearing?
Warmedahl says industrialisation is reducing livestock diversity and describes some traditions as having been nearly lost. The report does not provide data measuring how many producers or practices remain, so the scale and pace of change are unclear.
Source: hn
