Our Founders

It is time to more fully introduce our founders, Eglantine Crumb and Artiz Rind. As I mentioned in a previous post, there’s a bit of hesitation here. I’ve got two reasons. One is respect for their privacy. Two is that I’m not sure people will understand….

Eglantine Crumb

Eglantine is a cheesemaker, cook, and baker with a keen interest in foraging and brewing. She rather fancies herself a bit of a witch. She always says, “Food’s magic!” and believes in the healing power of a warm meal made with love. Born and raised in Yorkshire, England, she will always have a soft spot for Wensleydale. Though her roots are rural, she has traveled widely and draws from many cuisines in her kitchen. Every so often, she shares stories from those adventures. While she is proud of her resilience and ingenuity in finding her way home, she’s still a little embarrassed about how she ended up trapped in a shipping container in the first place.

She is our window into the animal and plant worlds that shape cheesemaking and food. For example, she brings a special understanding of how feed influences milk, how different breeds of cow lend their character to cheese, and she cares deeply about the welfare of the animals themselves. She’ll also share her pairing suggestions and recipes!

She and Aritz founded Crumb & Rind to spread the word about the wonderful world of artisanal cheese. It was her idea to bring me into the fold to hopefully find a greater audience, and I am grateful for her taking a chance on me. I promise to listen and share what I learn.

Aritz Rind

Aritz Rind is a little harder to explain (pssst, he’s a cheese mite.) He is a Basque (we think) anarchist (we know), and an affineur. (An affineur is someone who tends to cheese as it ages. More on that soon.) His favorite cheese is Ossau-Iraty, washed down with an unfiltered sagardo. He lives in an aging cave, though none of us is quite sure where. He insists he has traveled widely, and scoffs at our knowing smiles when we remind him he hasn’t gone all that far.

Through the mycelium network, he can reach almost anywhere on earth, so he picks up all sorts of odd bits of knowledge. Since his diet is mostly fungus, he can be a little out there sometimes. He’s also deeply political, never missing the chance to remind us: “Every bite is a choice, and every choice is a vote.” He can be intense, but he doesn’t take himself too seriously.

Aritz is our guide to the invisible world, where fungi and bacteria shape so much of what we eat and drink. He reveals how cheesemaking depends on things we cannot see. And he often slides into my lane to have something to say about economics, politics, and humanity along the way.

He and Eglantine first met on her travels, and she credits him with helping her get home safely. He has never mentioned it, but it’s clear he’s fond of her. As for me, he wasn’t so sure about my joining Crumb & Rind. He thinks people are too quick to fear what they don’t understand, and too eager to place themselves at the center of the universe. When I joined, I promised him I’d keep a humble, open mind.