569: Traditional Vs. Industrial Cheese: Does It Matter Where Your Cheese Comes From? With Trevor Warmedahl
Wise Traditions
Weston A. Price Foundation
4.7 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 March 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Traditional cheesemakers respect the process of cheesemaking. They honor the environment, the animal, its milk and traditional techniques – all of which lead to delicious, nutritious cheese. Industrial cheesemaking, in stark contrast, emphasizes sterile conditions, uniformity, and artificial inputs (including GMO-derived rennet). The cheese that results from the conventional approach is consistent... but misses a lot in terms of flavor profile and nutrients.
Trevor Warmedahl is a cheesemaker, fermentation educator and the author of Cheese Trekking. Today, he takes us on a cheese adventure, as we gain insight on traditional, artisanal cheesemaking. He gives us pause about what is in our fridge and where it comes from.
Trevor has trekked all over the world, working alongside artisanal cheesemakers, so he understands and shares the importance of working with (instead of against) microbes and nature. He describes cheeses you may have never heard of, along with unique approaches to making them. Trevor also helps us take stock of what has been lost in our modern approach to cheesemaking.
Visit Trevor's website: sourmilkschool.com
Become a member and/or donate to the Weston A. Price Foundation at westonaprice.org
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So Pfizer made the patent on this genetically modified rennet. |
| 0:04.5 | So about 90% of the cheese in North America and probably the world is made with a, |
| 0:11.1 | it's a product that's technically called fermentation produced chymazin, FPC, |
| 0:16.7 | but a lot of people call it vegetarian rennet. |
| 0:18.9 | I think it was patented in 91. |
| 0:21.3 | It was the first genetically modified ingredient to go into our food system. |
| 0:27.6 | And it was passed by the FDA without anybody raising a fuss. |
| 0:30.7 | There was no movement against this stuff yet. |
| 0:34.3 | And so it was approved. |
| 0:35.5 | It's a single enzyme 100% chymazin, which is the enzyme that coagulates |
| 0:39.9 | milk in a young animal's stomach. The like a cell from a calf stomach was spliced with a fungus, |
| 0:46.8 | creating a fungus that produces just this enzyme. So this entered our food system without |
| 0:52.7 | anyone's knowledge and is now like the dominant product around the world. |
| 0:57.2 | It doesn't have to be labeled as a GMO. |
| 1:05.6 | From the Weston A. Price Foundation, welcome to the Wise Traditions Podcast for wise traditions in food, farming, |
| 1:12.5 | and the healing arts. We are your source for scientific knowledge and traditional wisdom |
| 1:17.1 | to help you achieve optimal health. And now here is our host and producer Hilda Labrata Gore. |
| 1:30.5 | Hey, Hilda here. |
| 1:40.1 | 90% of the cheese consumed in North America is made with a genetically modified ingredient, often called or labeled vegetarian rennet. |
| 1:47.5 | The truth is that industrialized cheese making, the process relies on multiple artificial inputs and a sterile environment that is very far removed from how traditional artisanal cheesemakers |
| 1:54.6 | work with cheese and process it. This is episode 569 and our guest today is Trevor Wormidall. |
| 2:02.4 | Trevor is a cheesemaker, a fermentation expert and educator, and the author of Cheese Trecker. |
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