First published 2013
Michael Paterniti works at a gourmet deli in Ann Arbor when he encounters Paramo de Guzman, a legendary Spanish cheese said to be the world's finest and most costly. The cheese comes with its own mythology. Makers craft it from an ancient family recipe in the medieval village of Guzman, population 80. They submerge it in olive oil and age it in caves, where locals claim it gains the power to restore forgotten memories. Too poor to purchase the cheese, Paterniti makes a promise to himself that their paths will cross again. A decade passes before he travels to that remote Castilian hilltop with his family to find Ambrosio, the renowned cheesemaker. Paterniti expects to discover a perfect slow food paradise. Instead, he stumbles into a web of village secrets and personal betrayals. The idyllic story he imagined crumbles as Guzman reveals its hidden truths, and Paterniti finds himself drawn deeper into mysteries he never anticipated.
Genres: literary-fiction, adventure, memoir, biography-memoir, 21st-century, food-writing
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, personal-betrayals
Setting: Ann Arbor, Castilian, Guzman, Spain
Period: Decade
349 pages · Hardcover · The Dial Press