Emilia D'Albero lives in what she calls a "heavily cheese-themed home." The walls of her Point Breeze place are lined with posters from cheese competitions, photos from visits to creameries around the world and the tops of cheese boxes. There are stacks of cheese books, many in duplicates or multiple languages, and a "very loud Swiss cowbell." Her dog Bruna Alpina, named after a Swiss cow, scampers the halls.
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The theme is only fitting for D'Albero, who recently became the first American to win the Mondial du Fromage, one of the biggest cheese competitions in the world. She was also part of the first all-female team from the U.S., and her teammate Courtney Johnson placed third, marking the first time two Americans graced the winner's podium.
Perhaps due to the historic nature of this victory, D'Albero remembers "disbelief mostly" when she received the gold medal in Tours, France, on Sept. 15.
"They called my name, and I thought that I had misheard them," she said. "I got up there and everyone's looking at us, but this moment is really for me and Courtney because we did this and we did this for all women in cheese."
It took a lot of tasting, carving and cutting to get there. Contestants can't even enter the biennial Mondial du Fromage until they've cleared the Cheesemonger Invitational, a stateside competition. Champs from that contest then qualify for the Cheesemonger Invitational Masters. Only first- and second-place winners from that competition go onto the French stage, where cheesemongers sprint through nine challenges.
Those include a written test, blind tasting, oral presentation, pairings, sculpture and "perfect cut." But D'Albero remembers being most intimidated by the plateau, an over three-foot display challenge focused on shades of color.
"It's physically the largest, but it's also the most intricate," she said. "So on top of coming up with a good concept and making sure that you can execute it with any cheeses that they give you, because you don't know what they're gonna give you, it's also a lot about time management."
Her anxiety turned out to be unfounded. D'Albero put together a sprawling tableau of cheese cubes and wedges, staggered on clear mounts in twisting patterns punctuated with red pomegranates, green pickles and black olives. Building it was her proudest moment of the contest.
D'Albero arranged cheeses in a plateau that measured more than three feet.
D'Albero beat out 17 other competitors from 14 countries for the grand prize. She took home a gold medal and check for 2,500 euros (about $2,900) — money that she admits she will probably use to pay taxes. With her win, D'Albero hopes to inspire young cheesemongers, just as Emily Acosta, the first woman to win the Cheesemonger Invitational, inspired her to sign up for her first competition.
"I just think that everyone in every industry needs someone to inspire them and to remind them why we do what we do," she said. "And I am happy to try and be that for people like me at that point. I just try to be the monger that I needed when I was a baby monger."
The world's best cheesemonger is now back to work as the sales and marketing director of Formaticum, a cheese paper company. For now, she's trying to use her win to educate the public on what a cheesemonger does — sell and recommend the stuff, the same way a sommelier does with wine — and how useful they can be. But she would like to open a shop some day with her partner Tommy Amorim, a cheesemonger for Di Bruno Bros. The pair met at the Cheesemonger Invitational in 2021, where Amorim beat D'Albero by four points for the title. Now, they share a cheese-themed home in South Philly. (Some of the books, posters and cheese tops are his.)
Though D'Albero says their cheese shop is "not a realistic goal any time soon," she's confident they could create a standout spot with their combined experience — as well as the couple's "very specific style."
"It sounds kind of corny, but we're both alternative, former emo kids," she said. "I think there's definitely a connection between cheese and subculture in a way, especially with the newer generations that are coming up in the industry.
"… I think what we are really trying to do is make it known that cheese is for everyone and it's not just something that belongs on a table for the holidays or at rich people's cocktail parties and things like that. It's really a source of nourishment and nutrition. It always has been. And everyone deserves to enjoy good cheese."
This article previously stated the plateau challenge display measured over 11 feet. It has been corrected.
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