I eat a lot of cheese. Cheese is easily my greatest source of protein in a given day, and now the cheese is giving me life lessons too.
One day I was eating a little square of Colby Jack as a snack at work and marveled at how quickly this cheese gets sweaty at ambient temperature. It’s kind of gross, but that exact characteristic is also what makes Colby Jack an excellent cheese for gooey, melty, stretchy purposes like a burger or macaroni and cheese. It is less ideal for a charcuterie board where it has to sit out and sweat all afternoon.
Then you have Brie, which is awesome for a charcuterie board. Brie is not at its best right out of the fridge, and it’ s a mess for melty things you have to pick up, like a burger. Its delicate creaminess and subtle flavor would be wasted in macaroni and cheese.
Brie can go and shine where Colby Jack cannot, and vice versa.
Does this mean Brie or Colby Jack are better cheeses than each other? Is it actually a crime to use whatever cheese you have on hand for any purpose you want? No – they are just different cheeses.
And even though all cheese is good all the time, different cheeses are best appreciated in the situations and applications where they are meant to shine.
Just like I might be a cute, brainy little La Tur, and the next girl might be a Brie, a Colby, a Gouda, or even a Stilton blue, the best situations in life are going to let your unique abilities and characteristics shine. The best pairings you could ever be in will highlight the greatest things about you and whoever or whatever you are paired with, on top of when and where you are being paired.
From the best partner for you, to the career field you really excel in, to the way you like to decorate your home, to the pace and shape of your everyday life – maybe you aren’t the happiest you can be because you are a Pecorino trying to live a Cheddar life!
