Meet The Team / Alex Van Buren

Jamie Oliver, five ways. Image: JamieOliver.com.

Jamie Oliver: cowboy, sailor, Native American, construction worker, biker ... or chef?

Eat Me Daily pointed us to this can't-look-away video of the culinary celeb -- whose show "Jamie's American Road Trip" will bring him stateside this fall -- dancing as each of the different Village People... to a Village People soundtrack, of course.

It's a mesmerizing montage in which the chef known for his boyish charm reveals that he has perhaps not quite as broad a repertoire on the dance floor as in the kitchen, but it's still a grand departure from Monday afternoon tedium. Indeed, this promo video boasts much more joie de vivre than the rather staid description on JamieOliver.com: "Jamie delves deep into the social issues and diverse cultures of 21st century America."

Whatever. More dancing, please.

Episodes may crop up online on this side of the pond soon, but for those on vacay in the U.K., it's airing at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Now we're going to go watch that video again, as it is mightily addictive (almost as much as his recipe for monkfish skewers wrapped in pancetta -- maybe even more so).

[JamieOliver.com via Eat Me Daily]

At the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival last weekend, it was when a girl wearing a cheese hat walked by -- we were nowhere near Wisconsin, and there were zero Packers in sight -- that we realized the extent of cheesemania 'round these parts.

The sold-out festival took place on the grounds of a farm, appropriately -- Shelburne Farms -- and its primary sponsor was Vermont Butter & Cheese. And the 50 cheesemakers present, who had lured chefs, locals and fromage freaks from far afield, delivered quite a variety of fare. From chocolate-covered cheeses to cheese-and-chili-stuffed breads, the gamut was on offer.

Tickets were cheap, too: $20 for all-you-can-cheese, with $10 for wine and beer tastes. The old and young ran amok over the verdant grounds (this one got completely lost while trying to walk from one part of the sprawling farm to another). Children sampled cheddar voraciously, farmers shook hands, and we observed more than one woman sipping beer cautiously while a baby slept nestled against her chest. It seemed like a family affair. Though panels were available on how to pair and make cheeses, it was the stuff itself that got our attention.

Our top 10 favorite cheeses and photo editor Rachel Been's attached photo gallery after the jump.

City slickers at Jasper Hill Farm. Photo: Dimitri Saad

The cows knew something good was going on. There they were, chewing their cud and jamming out to R&B. One was visibly swaying to the beat.

The beasts behind a few of the brilliant cheeses at Vermont's family-owned Jasper Hill Farm and its extraordinary, 22,000-square-foot cheese-aging cave, built right into the earth (one of only two like it in the nation), are up on their current pop for two reasons. As sales and outreach specialist Zoe Brickley told a group of self-proclaimed dairy enthusiasts, it's both because "the barn boys like it" and because the cows do: "If cows are stressed out, their production goes down. Happy, contented cows are best for milk quality."

Jasper Hill seems intent upon making its fellow cheesemakers happy and contented too, by providing aging facilities for 10 to 12 farmers throughout New England. With their enormous cave, they have recreated an atmosphere that has been "historically used" to create cheese, which is a boon for many local cheesemakers, who traditionally had to rely essentially upon tricked-out refrigerators. Owned by two couples (brothers Mateo and Andy Kehler), Jasper Hill is helping keep artisanal cheese alive in New England, and sustaining some of the top fromagers in the country.

After the jump, how they do it and a look at the caves and aging process.

Photo: Knopf

In case you were wondering to what extent the mania for "Julie and Julia'" had gripped the nation, Sunday's New York Times delivered the answer.

This August 30, nearly half a century after the book was published in America, Child's classic tome "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" will be listed in the number one spot on the gray lady's bestseller list in the how-to category. The paper reports booksellers selling seven times as many copies in a month as they are accustomed to selling in a year.

This is not a small deal, particularly for the struggling publishing industry. Blogger Julie Powell is of course largely responsible for the surge of interest in the French Chef, and we wonder whether top Knopf execs have been bombarding her with flowers and thank-you notes.

More importantly, we are curious about how many of our own readers have invested in the book because of the blog or the movie. So spill it in our poll: Have you bought Child's cookbook? When? Tell us why in the comments.

Grown-up sodas. Image: Details.

A few of the best stories spied elsewhere on the Web this week:

BoingBoing picks up The Economist's story (and awesome graphic): "How many minutes do people in your city have to work to buy a Big Mac?"

Adult sodas from the stylish fellas at Details.

Starbucks-lovers, alert! They are lowering prices on some drinks but kicking them up a notch on others.

The L.A. Times reports: Facebook has created "Restaurant City." You may never get work done again.

Another ephemerally gorgeous piece from Design*Sponge's "In The Kitchen With" column, featuring a meringue-raspberry ice cream cake and some enviable dishware.

Portland, Oregon continues to rule, with a Fermentation Fest on Thursday of next week. (Clearly either our invite was lost in the mail, or they do not know about our pickling problems.)

Have you sampled the blackberries in the market right now? They are super-sweet. This Blackberry-Cabernet Caipirinha from Chow had us drooling.

The best Bruni interview of the bunch -- from the New Yorker.