JUST THE BIZZ:
CULTURE CLUB CHEESE, CAPE TOWN’S FIRST BOUTIQUE ARTISAN CHEESE HUB, SELLS ALL THINGS CHEESY AS WELL AS SAUERKRAUT, KEFIR AND OTHER BANTING-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS. AND IT’S A RESTAURANT, TOO!
Luke Williams and Jessica Merton from Culture Club Cheese
Husband and wife team Luke Williams and Jessica Merton, both from London, settled in South Africa five years ago.
‘I had just finished a microbiology of cheesemaking course in the north of England, and my plan at the time was to settle in the countryside and make my own cheese,’ says Luke. ‘But then I met Jess, and ended up going over to Bangladesh where she was working as a lawyer for an NGO.’
Luke traveled around the subcontinent and was planning on writing a book about Indian cheesemaking when his plans were derailed: ‘My information was stolen at a political rally in Dakar,’ he says.
‘Then Jess fell pregnant and we were looking for somewhere to raise our child… somewhere new, where there was potential for an emerging cheese industry, and also somewhere she could carry on with her work in the non-profit sector. We pretty much just put our hand on a map and chose South Africa. It sounded like a really exciting place to be; somewhere both of us could continue with our work in different ways and maybe set up a really interesting business at some point.’
Luke got a job working for a cheesemaker out in the winelands and then spent a year traveling around the country meeting other cheesemakers. ‘I was helping them develop their products and working out how we could find the best cheeses and get them into one place in Cape Town.’ Culture Club Cheese opened its doors in 2015. ‘We’re a restaurant and cheese shop, but we also age cheeses and develop them,’ Luke explains. ‘We’ll take a young six-month-old cheese to a twoand-a-half-year-old crystally, nutty cheese. And we make some fresh cheeses like labneh on site. We also bring in cheese from the UK and France, and are the only supplier of Neal’s Yard Dairy in Africa. They’re the top supplier of cheese in the whole of
Britain. They’re similar to us in the way they like to build up an industry, care for the farmers, care for the land, the history of cheesemaking and also the future of the industry.’
Luke was an English teacher for five years before deciding to get a job at La Fromagerie, one of the top cheese shops in London. ‘I worked there and I would visit the cheesemakers and blog about the ones who supplied the shop,’ he says. ‘The thing that really held it together for me was the science and fermentation behind the process of ageing milk and turning it into a preserved product that is delicious and nutritious.’
The yellow cheese shop in Bree Street (they’re moving to the Josephine Mill in Newlands in May) stocks a wide variety of cheeses; from raw milk cheeses sourced from Williston in the Karoo to unpasteurised cheeses from the Free State and Lesotho. Luke is passionate about maintaining a good relationship with his suppliers.
‘I like to visit them, talk to them, see what their range is, how they look after animals, how they make their own cheese, how they’re looking after the land – and finally, if the cheese tastes good as well!’
Culture Club Cheese is also famous for their wedding cheese wheel towers, an alternative to the traditional wedding cake. ‘People come in and choose the cheeses they want on their tower,’ he says. ‘It’s a new ‘thing’ and links to Banting, where
people don’t want to eat sugar or flour any more.’
The shop also stocks almond flour, seeds and flaxseed crackers. ‘We also make our own sauerkraut,’ says Luke. ‘It’s live, which means it hasn’t been pasteurised, so it’s still got the probiotic bacteria. It’s very healthy.’
Luke has had many highlights during his three years in operation. ‘We’re supplying some of the top restaurants now; getting largely unknown cheeses onto the plates of discerning customers around Cape Town is brilliant. And there’s no place like Culture Club Cheese… maybe in Europe or New York, but not in SA. The vibe here is unique.’
It hasn’t always been easy. The couple opened the restaurant and cheese shop just a few weeks after their second child was born. The climate, and getting people to change their eating habits, are huge challenges, too. ‘I definitely promote buying a higher quality cheese and eating less of it, rather than buying cheap, processed food that’s not doing you any good. Our suppliers have their own problems. If there’s no water, there’s no grass. If there’s no grass the cows don’t produce milk.’
With the help of social media, Luke and Jessica are able to bring the world of cheese to a larger audience. ‘We’ve got nearly 10000 followers across various platforms. We like to keep it personal online: people can follow our story, ask questions, see what’s new and what’s in stock.