My name is Heather Donaldson (that's me there with a wedge of my aged, plant-based Camembert), owner and founder of Mad Cheese.

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In 2019, my husband and I decided to try a vegan diet for one week. We wanted to do more to help the environment (did you know that eliminating meat and dairy products from your diet is the single biggest thing you can do to help slow climate change?) and were hopeful that we would enjoy the food enough to make it our permanent way of eating.

 

One week stretched into two weeks. We had more energy, less aches and overall just felt better. I was enjoying working with new ingredients and flavor combinations in the kitchen, too.

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Before going vegan, we both had a love for artisan cheeses and charcuterie. I wasn’t thrilled with the commercial vegan options available, so began researching how to create and age plant-based cheeses and meats at home. When the pandemic hit, we both ended up at home with no outside work. (My husband works in the film industry and we were living in Los Angeles). This gave me plenty of time to work on perfecting my recipes.

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The following summer, we traveled back to Cincinnati (we both grew up here) to visit my in-laws. We realized that they could use some extra support, and since there still wasn’t work happening in LA, we bought a house here in Madisonville (where my husband was raised and his parents still live) and made the cross-country move. All fall we renovated our 1889 farmhouse and I kept working on my cheeses.

 

As I perfected recipes, I started giving samples to friends and family to try. They liked them so much that they shared them with their friends and family. I started getting requests from people I had never even met. People wanted to be able to buy them, and Mad Cheese was born.

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My hope is that you will love our products whether you are vegan or not. The more we can eat plant- based food, the healthier we - and our planet - will be!