NBN Book of the Day Patrick McGuigan and Carlos Yescas, "One Cheese to Rule Them All: In Search of the World's 100 Best Cheeses" (Murdoch Books, 2025)
Jan 20, 2026
Join cheese aficionados Patrick McGuigan and Carlos Yescas as they dive into the delicious world of cheese. Patrick, a cheese writer and World Cheese Awards judge, and Carlos, a cheese scholar and expert on Mexican cheeses, share their fascinating insights from their book. They explore the history and criteria of the World Cheese Awards, the evolution of British cheesemaking, and the importance of protecting regional varieties. With passion and humor, they contemplate what truly makes a cheese the 'best' and reveal secrets about cheesemaking you never knew!
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Awards As The Book's Backbone
- The World Cheese Awards archive guided the book's selection of 100 cheeses across decades.
- Patrick McGuigan and Carlos Yescas combined awards data with their expert judgement to highlight cheeses with cultural stories.
What Judges Look For
- Judges in the Super Jury look for cheeses that are well made and express the cheesemaker's intent and place.
- Winning cheeses should feel remarkable and convey regional character to stand out in the final rounds.
First Winner: Blue Cheshire
- The first World Cheese Awards winner in 1988 was a blue Cheshire that later went extinct.
- The early competition had only about 250 entries and 19 judges, but still transformed that cheesemaker's business.
