The Cheese of Choice Coalition coordinated a fascinating panel for the  Yale Food Systems Symposium. The panel is themed  ”Back to the Future: Explorations of Traditional Cheese” and took place November 14 in New Haven CT. This panel brought together practitioners and academics to discuss various aspects of traditional cheese. Mark Gillman spoke about his experience of traditional cheese making at Cato Corner Farm in Colchester CT, the hometown folks at Caseus Fromagerie and Bistro examined the importance of small-scale and independently-owned food purveyors, and Dr. Ben Wolfe of Tufts University presented his fascinating research on cheese microbiology. The panel focused on the questions of whether or not artisan cheese is emblematic of innovation across the contemporary sustainable food system - progress that largely means looking back (in a very Oldways approach) to traditional provisioning models with long histories of healthy communities, healthy economies, healthy environments and healthy food. You can learn more about the Symposium and the Panel here.