I am frozen musically somewhere around 1994, very much the mould that grunge was grown in. It was a time when I was reading Asterix books sitting on the floor in ‘my corner’ of the library; taking hitchhiking holidays and juggling on the side of the road to appeal to drivers to pick me up; rewinding the VHS stockpile of Twin Peaks before returning them to the store; busking in my pyjamas on Queen Street and getting into creative mischief trying to get into gigs. So, I’m a ’90s kid with a memory of a life pre-internet. At that time, just as the ‘Great New Zealand 1kg of Cheese’ was made about as automated as it could get, New Zealand welcomed the rise of the small cheesemakers and the return of open vats and a proliferation of new cheese varieties. Their landscape was a world away from the mass-produced, frozen, imported cheeses. It’s a fresh cheese moment that I’m after: a fleeting moment, but not a frozen moment. Massimo’s Italian Cheeses is a fresh New Zealand cheese specialist and what’s more of a crowd-pleaser than fresh mozzarella? It’s made and dispatched on the day of production and on the plate the following day. A tender cheese, with a clean, lactic flavour that is meant to be eaten shortly after it is made, this table cheese is for munching as much as it is prized for its excellent melting properties. Gooey and stretchy, it has that quintessential fresh New Zealand cheese-pull effect. If we are to create tomorrow’s New Zealand cheeses, we can’t remain frozen in yesterday’s imports. CALUM HODGSON, THE CURD NERD

Calum Hodgson is cheesemonger at Massimo’s Italian Cheeses nz_curd_nerd