Yep, AI can do a lot. But it can’t taste cheese.
Some of it’s impressive. Some of it’s useful. Some of it’s a bit strange. And some of it is so confidently wrong that you wonder whether it has ever met a human, let alone a cheese.
AI can write product descriptions, it can suggest cheese pairings, it can help plan a Christmas campaign before everyone is too tired to remember what month it is. AI can also take a messy list of thoughts and turn them into something that looks vaguely like a plan. But it can’t taste cheese!
I know, technically, people are working on things that can analyse food, compare samples and spot patterns. There are electronic tongues, sensors and clever systems that can measure certain things far more consistently than a person can. But that’s not really what I mean.
I mean AI can’t actually taste cheese. It can’t unwrap something ripe, sticky and slightly alarming, take a second, and decide whether it’s magnificent, too far gone, or exactly the sort of thing that should only be offered to people you trust.
- It can’t feel the texture change as a cheese warms up.
- It can’t know that one batch is behaving slightly differently this week.
- It can’t watch someone take the tiniest bite of blue cheese, preparing for disaster, then realise they like it.
That’s the bit I keep coming back to.
Cheese is not just information, it’s smell, texture, temperature, memory, mood, confidence, judgement and, in some cases, bravery.
- It’s the maker knowing when something is ready.
- It’s the monger knowing when to offer a taste, when to explain, and when to let the cheese do the work.
- It’s the customer saying, “Not too strong,” then leaving with something with real character.
I don’t think AI will replace cheese people.
But, I do think it can help with some of the stuff around the cheese. The writing. The planning. The sorting out. The explaining. The promoting. The trying to remember what you were going to post on Instagram before someone asked whether you sell oatcakes.
- For cheesemakers
That might mean turning tasting notes, production knowledge and maker stories into clearer website copy, trade descriptions, email updates or social posts. - For cheesemongers
It might mean turning everyday counter questions into blog ideas, event descriptions, buying guides, pairing notes or seasonal campaign content. - For suppliers and partners
It might mean organising useful knowledge, explaining products more clearly, supporting training, or answering the same question for the hundredth time without losing the will to live.
Yes, there’s a use for AI in cheese. If human knowledge is in charge.
AI has a nasty habit of sounding plausible, even when it’s being bland, vague or completely wrong. Ask it for “a blog post about cheddar” and there’s a fair chance you’ll get something tidy, polite and about as memorable as a mild block from the back of the fridge.
And that’s the danger, really. Not that AI suddenly becomes a better cheesemonger than a person. More that it quietly helps everyone sound the same.
A cheese shop in a market town should not sound the same as a specialist counter in London. A tiny dairy making one beautiful cheese should not sound like a wholesaler with a full catalogue. A maker talking about the weather, the milk and what happened in the vat this week should not sound like a generic “artisan food brand” generated in three seconds by a machine that has never had to wash anything down at the end of the day.
Where AI gets interesting.
AI is useful when it helps real knowledge come through more clearly, it’s a problem when it sands off all the edges. And cheese, thankfully, has edges.
As I’ve said, I don’t think AI will replace cheesemakers, cheesemongers, cheese lovers or anyone in-between. The question is, can AI help cheese people save time, explain things better, and get more of their real knowledge into the world? That’s what we want to explore through the cheese network AI Lab.
- Not AI for the sake of it.
- Not shiny tools that nobody has time to use.
- Not generic advice that could apply to cheese, shoes, sofas or garden furniture.
The AI Lab is a place to test small, practical ideas for cheesemakers, mongers and the wider cheese sector. Things like better prompts, simple templates, useful content workflows, safer ways to use AI, and examples that actually make sense in the world of cheese.
Think of the AI Lab as a tasting table for digital experiments
We can try things, compare notes, laugh when AI gets cheese hilariously wrong. We can keep what helps and ignore what doesn’t.
The aim isn’t to make cheese businesses sound more like machines. It’s to give busy cheese people a bit more time, a bit more confidence, and a few better tools for the jobs that surround the cheese.
Yes, AI can write about cheese and it can organise cheese knowledge. It can suggest, summarise, tidy and draft. But even if AI takes over the world, someone human will still need to tell it whether the cheese is any good.
