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Taste the Inauguration: Barack Obama-Inspired Cheese

By Ashley Jacobs   Published Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Barack Obama with his namesake cheese. Photographs courtesy of Lazy Lady Farm

The Vermont-based organic-cheese maker Laini Fondiller has a knack for naming cheese. One of her most popular concoctions: a Barack Obama-inspired cheese.

Fondiller likes to keep on top of current news, so it’s no surprise that a few of her cheeses have turned out with politically inspired titles. Her Filibuster cheese, for example, is a delightfully gooey creation made from raw cow’s milk and vegetable rennet. Fondiller even named one of her goats—her Lazy Lady Farm has 25 registered Alpine goats on the premises—after George W. Bush’s former White House counsel Harriet Miers.

Barick Obama cheese being made.

Barick Obama cheese being made.

Obama’s cheese first popped up during the primaries. A washed-rind cheese made from pasteurized cow’s milk, it’s formed into the shape of a brick. Fondiller, an Indiana native, remembered that when people in her home state say “brick,” it comes out sounding like “barick.” Putting that together with the growing popularity of Obama, she named her cheese Barick Obama. At a tea shop in New Hampshire more than a year ago, Obama stumbled upon his dairy namesake and snapped a photo with it.

Now, with all the hoopla surrounding the President-elect, Barick Obama cheese is hard to find. Distributed exclusively through New England supplier Provisions International, it’s sold weekly to restaurants, stores, and farmers markets in areas including Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, and Maine.

If you’re not traveling north this holiday season, here’s some good news: Taftsville Country Store in Taftsville, Vermont, sells most of its cheeses online. However, proprietor Charlie Wilson says he won’t advertise Barick Obama cheese on the Web site due to its limited supply. “She might make it one week and not the next week,” Wilson explains, adding that Fondiller makes her cheeses in small batches. But he invites interested cheese lovers to e-mail him at clwilson@taftsville.com to see if he has any in stock.

>> All Washingtonian.com inauguration coverage

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Comments


A tasty mixture of two colors.

Posted by: Istvan, Sep 11, 2009 08:47:19 AM

And the ironic thing is, Obama’s made of it!

Oh, wait.

That’s crap, not cheese.

Posted by: democratsarefascists, Aug 10, 2009 03:49:06 PM

VERY PATRIOTIC!

Posted by: ZAK I KENOBI, May 13, 2009 01:47:11 AM

I sell the whole Lazy Lady line at WineLibrary in Springfield, NJ. Barick is one of our best sellers from her, but my favorite is the Buck Hill Sunrise.

Posted by: Everett, Mar 09, 2009 12:39:04 PM

I had the Barick Obama at Caselulla in New York. It is very good.

Posted by: Becky, Feb 03, 2009 07:37:37 PM

Cheeziz effing christ.

Posted by: Dudeface Johnson, Jan 07, 2009 02:03:51 PM

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