Do you know the feeling when a travel or excursion is proposed to you and the first thought that strikes your head is – “will there be cheese?”
Since my travel in question involved assisting my partner´s move from Berkeley to Vienna, the answer was on the table right away.

I finally got to visit the famous Berkeley Cheese Board!

Many legends circle around the oldest food collective in Northern California and the internet is full of information on how the Cheese Board opened in 1967 as a miniature cheese shop run by Elizabeth and Sahag Avedisian, whose main knowledge on cheese seems to have been how much they loved it.

In 1971, just four years after the first steps on business ground and just about the time when also frontier-breaking restaurant Chez Panisse opened its doors around the corner, Elizabeth and Sahag
sold the Cheese Board to their employees, creating Northern California´s first worker-owned and operated cooperative.

If in the beginning there were doubters they for sure now quietly watch in astonishment.
At 1514 Shattuck Avenue, the Cheeseboard Collective offers more than 400 different cheeses from all over the world, many of them coming of course from California and the US.

If you happen to be in the area or have time for a rewarding detour check out the opening hours and swing by – I guarantee the helpful owners will make sure you leave the store with new knowledge and many new friends in your bag.