Julia Rogers is a Toronto-based cheese educator, event coordinator, retail consultant, and founder of Cheese Culture. She is active with the Ontario Cheese Society, la Societé des Fromages du Québec, the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers, and Slow Food, participating in local and international events.

Her articles have appeared in Food and Drink, City Bites, Wine Express, and Slow Food Canada. Julia’s enjoyment of cheese is matched by an impressive love of the vine. She has completed the Wine and Spirit Education Trust’s Advanced Certificate, and is studying toward the WSET Diploma.

Her website, www.cheeseculture.ca provides recommendations and opportunities for learning, while her e-letter, The Wedge Issue is a source of news, lore and bite-sized reviews.

You’ve got $10 to buy lunch - where do you go?

One favourite place Sarah’s Falafel and Shawarma (487 Bloor Street West) in the Annex. I usually end up there at least twice a week as my favourite sandwich, the “falafel combination”, is so tasty. It’s sort of good for you and bad for you at the same time. For less than $5, you get a wholewheat pita, packed with crispy, greasy fried eggplant, potato, cauliflower, and a single substantial falafel, garnished with pickled turnips, tomatoes and parsley, and filled to absolutely overflowing with tahini and vinegary hot sauce. After you’re done you want to lie down.

The budget’s unlimited, someone else is paying and the choice is yours - where do you pick for dinner?

I’ve been waiting for some time for this to happen to me, so I’ve got a few ideas! I think that top of my list would be a visit to Michael Stadtlander’s Eigensinn Farm (449357 RR 2 10th Concession, southwest of Collingwood). When I read reviews of the lengthy, multi-course, holistic extravaganza that a meal on his farm consists of, I wonder if it could possibly live up to my expectations. Friends who’ve been say “Ohhhhh yes it will, and then some!” The one extra detail I’d want to arrange is chauffeur service, there and back.

Tell us some of the food shops you frequent when buying groceries to cook for yourself.

Lawrence Avenue East, between Pharmacy and Warden is my favourite neighbourhood for a shopping trip that will fill my cupboards, fridge and freezer to bursting with phenomenally delicious, beautiful, healthy and practical foods. First stop is Samara Roasted Nuts (1865 Lawrence Avenue East) for the freshest walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios, bar none. This place also has tender, exotically flavoured nougat, loukoum (Turkish delight) and mammoul (date filled semolina cookies).

Then I head to Arz Armenian Bakery and Café (1909 Lawrence Avenue East). Their produce department features 4 or 5 different types of eggplant, fava beans, okra, fresh dates, green almonds, fresh grape leaves, and much more. The most arcane spices and condiments are available for all sorts of culinary experimenting. You’ll be tempted by powdered angelica, dried omani limes, dried rose petals, huge sheets of apricot leather, and anise-infused fig conserve, even if you have no idea what to use them for! The deli offers walnut and pomegranate stuffed eggplant, fresh, yeasty turnovers containing spinach, cheese or spicy chicken, and lamajun (ground lamb seasoned with sumac and Aleppo peppers, smeared thinly on a fresh flat bread). Really, it’s all you can do not to tear into the bags and start eating in the store!

When ordering in for a quiet night at home, what’s your favourite place for take-out or delivery?

This is a tie between two favourites, both featuring food so complexly spiced and richly flavoured, that try as I might, I can never come close to replicating it at home. Rashnaa (307 Wellesley Street East) makes Tamil and Sri Lankan goodies including dosas, idlis, string hoppers, biryanis and thalis. The only downside to this condiment-heavy cuisine is all the little Styrofoam containers for the various included side dishes. Maybe if you do take-away they’ll package it all together. I should try next time. The second place is Makkah (1020 Danforth Avenue), a Pakistani halal eatery located near a large mosque. It’s usually filled with taxi drivers, particularly late at night. Everything’s tasty, especially the lamb dishes and the naan bread.

Oh, no, relatives are coming to Toronto from out of town - where do you take them?

I’m lucky that I live in Chinatown East, and my relatives all live in American suburbs. When we go for a stroll past the shops in my neighbourhood, they are amazed (and I hope more impressed than distressed) at what I take for granted (the hurly-burly of competing produce vendors declaiming their prices, the little old ladies proudly selling unusual herbs and odd-shaped gourds from their own gardens, the pig and fish delivery trucks that reveal in lurid detail exactly where protein comes from….) Obviously we duck in somewhere for pho, a rice plate or dim sum. I make sure to point out the chicken feet and jellied blood, but that’s just for shock value, as I don’t particularly like those foods.

Your favourite place to grab a couple of drinks and hang out where everybody knows your name?

My kitchen counter! I find my drinking budget goes farther when I spend it at home.

What’s coming up?

I’ve got a series of delicious, casual cheese tastings coming up at Leslieville Cheese Market (891 Queen Street East) as well as a series of slightly more serious, educational cheese seminars at Bar Volo (587 Yonge Street). My website gives all the details for these and my other cheesy pursuits.