Walking with the tousled-haired Mateo Kehler is a practice in patience. It’s rare for him to travel two steps before he’s greeted by name, his hands are clasped, and he’s embraced by fellow cheesemakers, cheesemongers and buyers of his award-winning Jasper Hill cheeses. Among the nearly 1,000 attendees at the American Cheese Society’s annual conference in Sacramento last week, the name “Mateo” required no last name, no qualifier. In this world, he’s a mononymous superstar, a Bono or Beyonce.
Kehler isn’t merely a leader in the American artisan cheese renaissance; he’s also knee-deep in the nation’s curdling fight over GMO labeling. He’s based in Vermont, the first state in the nation to pass a GMO labeling law. For now, the law excludes dairy products, pending a report by Attorney General Bill Sorrell due in January 2015.
The dairy cows that Kehler depends upon to make cheeses like his bark-wrapped Harbison, buttery Alpha Tolman and gooey washed-rind Winnamere are not genetically modified. However, a small part of their feed comes from genetically engineered corn. For the moment, that’s not an issue in Kehler’s home state, but he says it’s a looming worry.
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