For the first time ever, an American has taken top honors at the World Cheese Competition in France, marking a historic moment in one of the industry’s most prestigious contests.
Emilia D’Albero, a cheesemonger from Philadelphia, won gold at the Mondial du Fromage, often referred to as the Cheesemonger Olympics, alongside teammate Courtney Johnson of Seattle. The pair also made history as the first all-female Team USA to enter the event, as first reported by CBS News.
D’Albero, who began her career in cheese eight years ago, has built a reputation through her work in Philadelphia and her popular TikTok account, PunkRockParmigiano. She has used her platform to highlight the role of cheesemongers and to educate viewers on the craft of cutting, pairing, and presenting cheese.
Nine grueling cheese challenges
The Mondial du Fromage brings together top cheesemongers from around the world to compete across nine different challenges. Contestants face written exams, blind tastings, cutting precision, and even sculpting before presenting a 100-centimeter plateau built around a theme.
“I did the whole competition with two knives and a wire cutter,” D’Albero said, explaining that she trained for the event at the Philly Cheese School in South Philadelphia. “It definitely made me feel a sort of responsibility to portray American cheesemongers as well as I could.”
Through her win, she hopes to shine a light on her profession in the US, where she says cheesemongering is not given the same respect as in Europe. “It’s definitely skilled labor,” she said. “We have to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the cheeses in the case.”
