10 | YOU Magazine
Another day doing the job they love – cheese experts Angela Veal (left) and Laura McPherson. 261114-DW-076
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“A lot of companies talk about having recipes, but we have a process. You have a recipe for a cake.” Traditionally it’s an industry where the process is handed down from generation to generation. Those people are cheesemakers. Large-scale factories have lost that personal touch and their makers are usually known as operators. Talbots is a family of cheesemakers, Angela said. They don’t chase awards, but their cheeses have caught the eyes of judges over the past few years. The awards keep coming, but that’s not why they’re in the business. They’re there because they’re passionate about what they do. Cheesemaking might be a business but it’s also fun. Their biggest sellers are wheels of brie and their Mt Peel Blue that recently gained even greater fame as the key ingredient in Allenton Meat’s award-
winning beef and blue cheese sausages. “The blue was an all-round winner before and now it’s got even more people talking about it. That win has been big for us too.” And is there life outside of cheese? “Why would you want to do anything else?” Angela said. In June she travelled to France and England and came back inspired, but she also realised how well they were doing things at home. “In lots of ways I saw things we’re already doing and that’s pretty cool, but I did come back buzzing. It’s not a glamorous job. Angela and Laura spend most of their working day wearing white overalls, with their hair covered by gauze hats. That day starts early – 5am and lasts up to 12 hours, but neither woman would change what they do for another job with more sociable hours.