CHEESE TREKKING: An Evening with Trevor Warmedahl and Kara McGrath

Join us for a very special conversation about Trevor Warmedahl's debut book, CHEESE TREKKING: How Microbes, Landscapes, Livestock, and Human Cultures Shape Terroir. Trevor will be in conversation with Kara McGrath, Owner/Founder of Paste and Rind and a first time moderator at Bold Fork Books. Samples of cheese are incldued in all tickets.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Cheese Trekking recounts the author’s experiences visiting pastoral communities and cheesemakers in various countries and explains how cheeses can be local manifestations while also representing global archetypes, strategies that have been adopted in many places. It describes the constellations (a range of complementary milk foods that utilize all byproducts of cheesemaking) of various regions through a wide-angle lens. The central premise is that milk has a terroir, born from the plants and ecology of a landscape, that is concentrated via ruminant digestion and lactation and carries through the barns and milk sheds to be steered by human hands and cultural practices into foods.

There is a growing international movement to return to the roots of natural cheesemaking, at the core of which is a philosophy of working with rather than against microbes and nature; the sacredness of motherhood, milk, and life itself; and the ethics involved in dairying, given its intimate involvement with the killing and eating of livestock. It offers firsthand evidence that humans can be stewards of landscapes, shepherds of microbes, and keepers of genetic wealth in the form of heritage livestock breeds, while crafting delicious, safe, nutrient-dense milk foods.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Trevor Warmedahl has a well-established identity as a nomadic cheesemaker and is knowledgeable about grazing practices and milk fermentation globally. He’s been a cheesemaker for the past decade working with companies of various sizes, but with a dedicated focus on farmstead operations and natural/raw milk. His interest is in what he describes as “endangered cheeses and milk fermentation practices of rural pastoral communities, the global diversity of these foods, and their ties to regional cultures and agricultural systems.” Trevor won the 2022 Daphne Zepos Teaching Award for cheese professionals hoping to further their paths and bring home to North America valuable knowledge to benefit cheesemakers. His current project, The Sour Milk School, offers five-day natural cheesemaking workshops held on farms in the US and abroad.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Kara McGrath is a cheesemonger and founder of Paste & Rind, based in Washington, DC. After almost a decade in the international development space, working both in Washington DC and in over 10 countries, she left the industry to pursue her love of artisan cheese. In early 2021, Kara set off on her own and started Paste & Rind, a hub for all things artisanal cheese, with a focus on bringing access and education on regional and local cheeses to the Washington DC community. In early 2023, Paste & Rind opened a wine and cheese brick and mortar bar and retail cheese counter on H Street NE, which was awarded City Paper’s Best Charcuterie Award in 2024 and 2025, as well as the Slow Food DC Snail of Approval Award in 2024. In early 2026, Paste & Rind closed its brick and mortar location due to the challenging macroeconomic circumstances Washington is facing. While the direction for the future of Paste & Rind is in flux at present, Kara remains committed to cheese education for her community.