Anne Saxelby, champion of U.S. cheesemakers and owner of Saxelby Cheesemongers, has died. Inspired by Neal’s Yard Dairy, which helped revive the British cheese industry in the 70s and 80s by forging relationships with small cheesemakers, Saxelby opened her first stall in New York’s Essex Street Market in 2006.
Stocking only U.S. cheeses was unheard of, yet Saxelby focused even more closely on selections from just the Northeast. Many of the cheesemakers Saxelby bought from had only existed for a few years and she provided them with a platform at a time when the U.S. cheese industry was just coming into its own. Initially she staffed the market stall alone, making deliveries to local restaurants on her bike while wearing a backpack stuffed with 25 lbs. of cheese. Within 5 years, Chef Daniel Boulud was calling her “the most sophisticated boutique fromagère—or cheesemonger— in the U.S.”