10/11/2021
I just learned of the sudden passing of Anne Saxelby, owner of Saxelby Cheesemongers, and am heartbroken. It's hard to summarize her impact both on me and our cheese community, but I'll try.
When I was veeeery first starting out in cheese, I found her podcast Cutting the Curd and soaked up tons of cheese knowledge from it. She has the generous heart of an educator, and her passion for cheese and cheesemakers came through with every episode. In early 2010, I went to NYC to continue my cheese education with Murray's Bootcamp. In between hours of cheese eating class sessions, I went out exploring and visited all the cheese shops I could in the city to try to figure out how to do this. At the top of the list to visit, was Anne's tiny counter inside an open air market, featuring cheeses only from the northeast. I had heard her talk about so many of the makers on the podcast, and they were mostly unavailable in Nashville so I loaded up with cheese treasures. In comparison to the HUNDREDS of cheeses from all over the world in the Murry's counter that totally overwhelmed me as a newbie, the modest selection of 30-40 cheeses at Saxelby suddenly made this all feel doable. I could mainly focus on cheeses of the south, plus bring in a few unique ones from other parts of the country!
Y'all, THIS was the spark, the moment The Bloomy Rind came into focus. My farmers market stand and eventual cheese case inside Porter Road Butcher was purely from the inspiration of Anne Saxelby.
Fast forward another year or so, and I got an invite to be interviewed on Cutting the Curd. ME! I was a big bundle of nerves, but Anne was the most gracious host and put me at ease (as much as I could be, anyhow, meeting someone I looked up to so much). Eventually, I started sourcing some cheese from her so The Bloomy Rind could get more fun, unusual cheeses on the counter. I would typically ask her to just pick out whatever she was loving at the moment, which was always the right decision. She was just a joy and a wealth of knowledge, and I feel lucky to have worked with her over the years.
Fast forward again... I was itching to grow the wholesale side of the business, and I bet you can guess who was a few years ahead of me on a similar path. Yep, Saxelby Cheesemongers had expanded to include a wholesale department. I visited whenever I was in NYC next to try to wrap my head around what steps to take to grow The Bloomy Rind wholesale. As always, generous Anne welcomed me to visit their wholesale warehouse and answered what I'm sure was an exhaustive (read: exhausting) list of questions.
So here we are today trying to process that she just didn't wake up one morning this past weekend. She was a wife and a mom to three little ones. My deepest condolences to her family. I can't even imagine.
I know I'm one of so many in the cheese community feeling the loss of this kind and wise and joyful colleague and friend. I'm grateful to have known her. We will miss you, Anne. 💔
