Meet Malachy Egan: Illustrator and Certified Cheese Professional

Illustrator Malachy Egan spent his honeymoon on a sheep farm in Abruzzo, and it changed his life forever. Of course, it did. Since then he’s worked as a cheesemonger, interned at a legendary Dutch cheese shop, and spent time aging and selling cheese for a local farm - all the while working on illustrations and designs for fun and for clients. In addition to his non-dairy related illustrations, he’s worked with importers to design cheese labels, sketched legendary makers and affineurs, and collaborated on a small book on home cheese making. So, during the pandemic, I reached out to him when I started having cheese dreams. Recently, he drew three images on the theme of “cheese flights” that I paired with very short stories. They are for sale by pre-order this fall on his website (all proceeds will be donated to the Daphne Zeops Teaching Award, a scholarship for cheese professionals).

To weasel my way into Malachy’s imagination, I asked him to answer a set of questions about cheese and illustration.

What was your creative life like as a child? Did you draw all the time, and did you ever draw your food?

Some of the earliest memories I have are of drawing - sprawled out on a carpeted floor in front of a console tv with a sketchbook and pencils everywhere. I’m not sure I ever drew my food growing up. Probably wouldn’t have considering I was a verrrry picky eater. I was the type of kid who threw a fit at a restaurant if my spaghetti had grated cheese on top! Obviously, I’ve come a long way in the appreciating cheese department...

Can you describe your journey of dairy discovery – after your cheesemaking honeymoon, what happened?

Like I said I was a very picky eater that continued through college. Luckily, I had little epiphanies along the way - a semester in Rome cured me of a lot of my pickiness and really kick-started my interest in food in general. Not long after my honeymoon, I got laid off from a job in the advertising department at a local newspaper. I had been looking to work in a non-office setting so I used my period of unemployment to dive deeper into the food world. I worked at a local cheese counter and then did a stint as an assistant at Cherry Grove Farm in New Jersey to learn more about cheese making. After that, I worked as a cheesemonger at Di Bruno Bros. which opened up a world of opportunity. I got to learn so much from my fellow mongers and also got to meet so many amazing people in the industry. Even though I’m not behind the counter selling cheese any more I still get to work with a lot of the same cheese industry folks on creative projects. Cheese people are the best people.

A lot of creative people are drawn to mongering and cheesemaking – why are you so inspired by the world of cheese?

Cheese is endlessly inspiring. Each bite tells a story - of the hands that made that morsel; of the culture that nurtured the tradition and the land that shaped it. Then there’s also the fact that wheels and wedges of cheese are works of art. The mold-mottled muslin on a clothbound cheddar? Art. The Sunset pink and oranges of a washed rind painted with brine? Art. A perfect, golden wedge of Gouda held up to the sun, translucent and glowing? Art.

How do you approach drawing – do you look at a lot of cheese images? Work from memory?

I like to work from memory as much as I can, though I do sometimes look at references. I find that if I look too much at references that can make a drawing a little less lively. I have great respect for photorealistic artists but it’s not really in my wheelhouse. My illustrations are usually a little more whimsical and impressionistic rather than realistic.

Do you have a favorite project you’d like to talk about?

I really enjoyed working with Kirstin Jackson on her Fromage Blanc book. It was a fun challenge to illustrate recipes and I love the fact that the illustrations bolster the instructional text. Making something that is both useful and nice to look at :)

I also loved working on the cheese flight prompts! Collaborative art is the best! Taking a few lines of text and turning it into a drawing with a self-contained narrative. And then to see the words you came up with was such a joy.

What cheese is in your fridge right now?

I’ve always got Pecorino Romano on hand for cooking. Right now I’ve also got a trifecta of local cheeses: The Farm at Doe Run’s Hummingbird (a robiola style from Chester County); Valley Milkhouse Lady Slipper (a Tomme washed in Cider lees from Berks County); Cherry Grove Farm’s Herdsman (a natural rind Tomme from Lawrenceville, NJ)

What’s your spirit cheese?

Oh man, that’s a tough one. I have a soft spot for Irish cheeses - especially the washed rind cheeses of West Cork. Gubbeen is one that I will always love. It really represents the landscape and the place its made. It’s complex but balanced with a sweetness from the grass-fed milk, a touch of sea spray from the brine and a little hint of earthiness - or bog as Gubbeen founder, Gianna Ferguson, likes to say.