Art that’s edible

Cheese sculptures, and their creators, are cut differently.

Sarah Nep. Source: https://cheesecarver.com

Cheese is full of possibilities.

Sandwiches, salads, tacos, coffee, platters — there’s nothing curd can’t make better.

But what if cheese also served a non-edible purpose? Such as…being a piece of art?

Surprise! It already does.

The art of cheese carving goes beyond cutting a clever display for a soon-to-be devoured centerpiece. For some, it’s a genuine hobby and — even more astonishing — a career.

Take Sarah Kaufmann, “The Cheese Lady,” a (fittingly) Wisconsin native. Kaufmann began designing and carving uniquely thematic cheese sculpture designs in 1981 and went full-time with the craft in 1996. That’s 20-plus years of around-the-clock cheese artistry. Kaufmann’s for-hire services include designing and carving a sculpture and then shipping it, and sculpting designs live as part of in-store or event-related entertainment.

Kaufmann holds two Guinness World Records for largest cheese carving and travels the country to carve for corporate events, county fairs, weddings, private parties, and more.

Sarah Nep, a fine artist from Walnut Creek, California, is a professional cheese carver as well. Her projects are smaller in scope than Kaufmann’s, but they’re no less detailed. Nep stumbled upon the art form largely by accident. Her very first piece began as a favor to her husband, who volunteered her to sculpt a cow for the California Cheese and Butter Show. Already well-accustomed to the nuances of fine sculpts and molds, Nep did a spectacular job, and her (then) side-gig carving commissions began.

Nep has carved for trade shows, anniversaries, wine tastings, grand openings, and more. Her services include live carving, shipping a completed sculpture, and compiling specialty cheese platters.

Finally (but certainly not comprehensively), Pennsylvania-based food sculpture artists Jim Victor and Marie Pelton work as a team to create pieces out of cheese, butter, chocolate, or a mixture of foods. They have been commissioned to carve for state fairs, public relations events, TV shows, and more.

In their brief autobiography, Victor and Pelton write: “Food sculptures are opportunities to teach the public not only about food and where it comes from but also to demonstrate and educate people about the process of art, its role in society, the messaging it can convey.”

Both graduates from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Victor and Pelton put recyclability at the top of their food sculpture service promotion.

“Food, like other organic waste products, can be put into an anaerobic digester and turned into electricity… It’s comforting to know the food material we use for sculpting will be made into energy [after we donate it].”

Kaufmann, Nep, Victor, and Pelton are far from alone in their cheese carving occupation. Matthew Van Vorst, Nancy Baker, The Courtyard Dairy, Alberto Tomasi are just a handful of others among a growing cohort of cheese carvers. Some colleges even offer courses in it. Most professionals concede that anyone with the right tools can pick up the hobby, but isn’t there, I don’t know, just a bit of artistic skill involved?

Interested in trying out a little bit ‘o sculpting? Hungry for cheese after all this chitter chatter about it? Head over to www.hoardscreamery.com to order your favorite Hoard’s Dairyman Farm Creamery cheese variation. (Carve, eat, or both, we won’t tell.) s, and their creators, are cut differently.