Delightful, decadent appetizers

FARGO, N.D. — As a cheesemonger, Megan Lewis offers customers more than just cheese. She offers a cheese experience. 

“We don’t run a traditional cheese counter,” Lewis said. “We started off doing catering with cheese platters and grazing tables and it just grew from there.”

Lewis owns Milk Made, a cheese charcuterie business based out of Fargo. In addition to its initial fare of charcuterie boards and grazing tables the company now offers cheese wheel cakes and charcuterie cones called “Oh Fer Cute-erie Cones.” Lewis and her staff operate a food truck that sells cheese at various events and also offer classes on cheese and cheese pairings.

“We open our customer’s mind to what cheese can be paired with,” Lewis said. “It’s not just wine, but coffee, tea and chocolate. We also do Halloween candy pairings and Christmas cookies with cheese. It’s fun for people to see what cheese can be eaten with.”

Lewis has always had an artistic mindset, and several of her family members are artists. Lewis went to culinary school with plans on becoming a food stylist. She landed a job at a local artisan food shop for their cheese program.

“I fell in love with it pretty quick,” Lewis said. “Through that process, I started making platters and had that ‘ah-hah’ moment of food styling and cheese is my medium.”

After a few years, Lewis decided she wanted to stay home with her children, so she started Milk Made as a part-time business making charcuterie platters for additional income.

“It very quickly went from a part-time gig to a full-time gig,” Lewis said.

Now, Milk Made has been in operation for eight years. Lewis is the only full-time employee, but she has 10 part-time employees who assist with the food truck, prepping platters and teaching classes.

“Before we had our own storefront, the food truck was our way to connect and sell cheeses,” Lewis said.

The food truck, which the Milk Made team affectionately calls Bessie, regularly attends the Fargo farmers market and local breweries and wineries. It also can be rented out for weddings, graduation parties, company parties and appreciation events around Fargo. The food truck has two windows that open. One reveals a 6-foot cheese case with 20-30 types of cheeses. At the other, customers purchase crackers, jams, mustards and other products to pair with their cheese.

“We really are a cheese shop on wheels, which is fun,” Lewis said. “We also sell mini-platters and cones in the food truck.”

Last year, Milk Made was able to purchase a storefront in Fargo, which allows for more kitchen space and a classroom for classes on cheese.

“We try to find fun ways to teach people about cheese,” Lewis said. “We do classes and education on cheese and cheese pairings. Last year for Christmas we did charcuterie chalets instead of gingerbread houses.”

Milk Made offers public and private classes on cheese, hosting up to six classes a month.

“All cheese starts with four basic ingredients,” Lewis said.

These basics are milk, rennet, salt and cultures.

“People find it fascinating that from four basic ingredients you can get such a wide variety of products,” Lewis said.

Most of the cheese Lewis sells is from the U.S. with the bulk of it coming from the Midwest. Lewis said the most popular cheeses are Cheddars, goudas and Havarti.

“I am a huge supporter of local cheeses,” Lewis said. “When people are buying their food, they want to know that story. We partner with a lot of local companies such as local breweries, wineries and other artisan food makers to help tell the story of our food.”

Lewis works with a distributor to bring in cheeses from around the world that are made differently or not found locally.

“We try to bring in new cheeses all the time and change out what produce we use with the seasons,” Lewis said. “We try to have a little bit of everything. That allows us to channel our creativity.”

Lewis is a certified cheese professional through the American Cheese Society. Lewis has served as a judge at the past American Cheese Society Judging & Competition.

“Through the ACS I get to meet the makers of a lot of cheeses and develop a relationship with the cheesemakers themselves, and I think that is so important,” Lewis said. “We, as cheese mongers, need to understand what the cheesemaker wants the cheese to taste like so we are giving it to the customer in the best possible way. We need to have those relationships to tell the producer’s story.”