Sue Conley is the co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery along with Peggy Smith. [1]
Both women are credited with their roles as catalysts of Northern California's artisan cheese industry. [2] In 2006, along with Smith, she won a James Beard award for "significant and lasting achievements and contributions to the food and beverage industry for ten or more years." [3]
Conley was born in Washington, D.C., where her grandfather managed the cafeteria Sholl's Colonial. [4] She attended the University of Tennessee, where she met Smith. [5]
After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1976, Conley worked in restaurants before co-founding Bette's Oceanview Diner. [6] After selling her shares in Bette's Oceanview Diner, she co-founded Tomales Bay Foods, a distributor and marketer of West Marin-produced foods, and Cowgirl Creamery, a manufacturer and distributor of artisan cheese, along with Smith. [7] Conley has credited her travels to Europe as well as Peggy Smith's work at Chez Panisse as amplifying their interest in regional, artisan food production. [8]
According to Conley, they founded the cheese-making company as a way of creating a product which showcased the organic milk produced by Albert Straus at Straus Family Creamery: "We saw the need to showcase great quality organic milk. The farm economy could not survive the state it was in, so we saw a need to preserve land in agriculture." [9]
Conley is a member of the California Artisan Cheese Guild. With Smith, she wrote Cowgirl Creamery Cooks. [10]
In 2016, Conley and Smith sold Cowgirl Creamery to Emmi, a Swiss dairy firm. [11]
Wensleydale is a style of cheese originally produced in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, England, but now mostly made in large commercial creameries throughout the United Kingdom. The term "Yorkshire Wensleydale" can only be used for cheese that is made in Wensleydale.
Point Reyes Station is a small unincorporated town located in western Marin County, California. Point Reyes Station is located 13 miles (21 km) south-southeast of Tomales, at an elevation of 39 feet (12 m). Point Reyes Station is located along State Route 1 and is a gateway to the Point Reyes National Seashore, an extremely popular national preserve. It has a population of around 350 people. It is also the name of a census-designated place (CDP) in northern California covering the unincorporated town and surrounding countryside, with a total CDP population of 848.
Chez Panisse is a Berkeley, California, restaurant, known as one of the inspirations for the style of cooking known as California cuisine. Restaurateur, author and food activist Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse in 1971 with film producer Paul Aratow, then professor of comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley. The restaurant emphasises ingredients rather than technique and has developed a supply network of direct relationships with local farmers, ranchers and dairies.
Marshall is an unincorporated community in Marin County, California. It is located on the northeast shore of Tomales Bay 6 mi (9.7 km) south of Tomales, at an elevation of 25 ft (7.6 m).
The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize culinary professionals in the United States. The awards recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists each year, scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awards are presented at a dinner in New York City; the chef and restaurant awards were also presented in New York until 2015, when the Foundation's annual gala moved to Chicago. Chicago will continue to host the Awards until 2027.
Teleme is an American semi-soft cheese originating from the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Influenced by the cheese made by Greek immigrants in California, although the origins of which historically reach back to the nomadic Yoruk/Turkmen Turkic people who have roamed the mountains and plateaus of southern and southeastern Turkey, and is still produced in the traditional method by goat herders as a major part of their sustenance when they are out on the mountains; from fresh, warm goat's milk acidified and coagulated with totally natural ingredients foraged there and then, one of which is the sap/milk of the "fig" fruit, Teleme cheese was invented by Serafino Iacono before World War II. The first manufacturing facility was in Tomales, California. The name of the company that made the cheese was New Sonoma Creamery.
Cowgirl Creamery is a company located in Point Reyes Station, California, which manufactures artisan cheeses. Founded in 1994, the company manufactures its own cheeses and sells other imported and domestic cheese and fine artisan foods. Its own cheeses include Red Hawk and Mt. Tam. The company operates a storefront in the Ferry Building of San Francisco. Founders Peggy Smith and Sue Conley worked for years in the kitchens of the Bay Area, and Alice Waters' Chez Panisse, where Peggy worked for many years, is among many Bay Area establishments to incorporate cheeses from Cowgirl Creamery into its menu.
The Marin French Cheese Company is a manufacturer of artisan cheese located in rural west Marin County, California. The company was founded in 1865 by Jefferson Thompson, and produces cheeses under the Marin French Cheese brand name. It is the oldest continually operating cheese manufacturer in the United States.
Belle Chevre is an artisanal goat cheese maker in rural Alabama. It was established in 1986 and is located in Limestone County, Alabama near Elkmont.
Rogue Creamery is an American cheese maker based in Central Point, Oregon founded in 1933. Since 2002, Rogue Creamery has been making award winning artisan cheeses. Founder Tom Vella brought mold, cultures and recipes for Oregon Blue to Central Point from Roquefort, France. Rogue Creamery was the first U.S. cheese maker to export raw-milk cheese to the European Union. Their products can be found in other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan.
Capricious is an aged goat's milk cheese made by the Achadinha Cheese Company in Petaluma, California. It won "Best in Show" at the 2002 American Cheese Society awards.
Vegan cheese is a category of non-dairy, plant-based cheese analogues. Vegan cheeses range from soft fresh cheeses to aged and cultured hard grateable cheeses like plant-based Parmesan. The defining characteristic of vegan cheese is the exclusion of all animal products.
Sheana Davis is an American cheesemaker, chef, and culinary educator. She is the owner of the Epicurean Connection, in Sonoma, California, and is the creator of Delice de la Vallee cheese, along with other fresh cheeses.
Peggy Smith is the co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery along with Sue Conley.
Catherine Wright Donnelly is Professor of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Vermont, and the Editor-in-Chief of The Oxford Companion to Cheese, which won the 2017 James Beard Award for Reference and Scholarship.
Miyoko Schinner is an American chef, cookbook author, animal sanctuary founder and owner of dairy-free cheese brand Miyoko's Creamery. She is a leading advocate for the right of vegan food products to use traditional meat and dairy terms on their labels.
The Original Dinerant, or simply The Original, is a diner serving American cuisine in Portland, Oregon, United States. Owned by Sage Hospitality Resources, Guy Fieri visited the "modern" and "upscale" diner to film a 2016 episode of the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The diner has hosted competitive eating contests and other special events. The Original has received a generally positive reception and is most known for its glazed doughnut sliders and alcoholic milkshakes. The restaurant's mezzanine level has an amusement arcade and bar called The Dinercade added in early 2019.
Dig a Pony (DAP) is a bar and restaurant in Portland, Oregon. Named after the Beatles' song of the same name, the business opened in mid 2011.