Live at the Wisconsin Art of Cheese Festival: Fortune Tellers, the Ultimate Grilled Cheese, and Cheddar Blue

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio

Milk Street Radio

Food, Arts

4.4 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Milk Street Radio took our show on the road for an unforgettable night at The Wisconsin Art of Cheese Festival in Madison, Wisconsin. To celebrate being in America’s Dairyland, Chris got a Wisconsin dairy history lesson from Laura Werlin; met with Master Cheesemakers Marieke Penterman and Chris Roelli; and even got his fortune read with a wedge of cheddar, thanks to professional cheese fortune teller, Jennifer Billock. Local legend Chef Tory Miller rounded out the evening with a tell-all interview — where he revealed how he beat Bobby Flay - and answered the audience’s cheesiest questions.

This special episode of Milk Street Radio is made in collaboration with our sponsor Wisconsin Cheese. Look for the Proudly Wisconsin Cheese badge at your local grocery store. To learn more visit WisconsinCheese.com.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm Christopher Kimball, and this is a special episode of Milk Street Radio made in collaboration with our sponsor, Wisconsin Cheese.
0:12.2	Earlier this fall, we hosted an evening in Madison at the Wisconsin Art of Cheese Festival.
0:17.9	We discovered the state's culinary secrets, stories, and of course, it's cheese.
0:22.6	I got insider advice from two of Wisconsin's master cheesemakers.
0:26.6	You take the great milk that the Wisconsin dairy farmers produce and don't screw it up.
0:32.6	And most of the time we don't, so we're doing pretty good.
0:35.6	I even sat down with a witch, that's Jennifer Billock, who's the world's only professional
0:40.0	cheese fortune teller.
0:41.5	So hold your cheese in your hand so I can look at it.
0:43.9	No one has ever said to me, hold your cheese in your hand so I can look at it.
0:47.1	I don't know.
0:47.4	I don't know that I believe that.
0:49.2	No, this is a first for me, I've got to tell you.
0:51.9	On all levels. And Chef Tori Miller revealed his
0:55.1	cheesiest love affair. Oh, mama. Don't get me started on Reclet. I had a relationship with
1:00.3	Brett Klet earlier in the year, and it was a, it was bad, bad, bad. It was real bad.
1:07.8	That's all coming up later in the show. But first, it's my interview with Laura Whirlin.
1:12.5	She's a James Beard award-winning author of six books on cheese.
1:16.5	We kicked off the evening with Laura giving me the backstory on cheese in Wisconsin.
1:22.8	Here's Laura Whirling.
1:24.7	Hi, Laura.
1:27.4	Oh, you brought me some wine?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Milk Street Radio, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Milk Street Radio and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.