Building the Perfect Cheeseboard with Antonelli’s Cheese Shop
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Event capacity: 100
Suggested donation supporting the university’s COVID-19 response and student financial aid: $35
Admit it. You’ve seen those drool-worthy Instagram and social media posts of gorgeous cheese boards and marveled at the edible masterpieces. Now, you can be the creator! Join alumni Kendall (SFS’04) and John (B’04) Antonelli of acclaimed Antonelli’s Cheese Shop in Austin, Texas, as they walk you through how to build the perfect cheeseboard. Whether you want to play along and build your own cheeseboard (see our “What you’ll need” section below) or just relax on your couch and watch us, everyone will get the chance to learn about the science of flavor and theories on how to pair foods and beverages.
What you’ll need
~3-5 cheeses (vary it up between textures, styles, and milk types) For example: soft goat, hard cow, blue sheep
~fresh fruit and/or dried fruit
~nuts, crackers, or other salty snack
~jam or preserves
~olives, pickles, or other pickled veg
~salami, prosciutto, or other cured meat (if you eat it)
(Have some weird jam in the pantry that came in a random gift basket a long time ago? Pull it out! Let’s use it!)
Host bio
Kendall (SFS’04) and John (B’04) Antonelli are the wife and husband team behind Austin’s favorite cheese purveyors, Antonelli’s Cheese Shop. Best CEO, Austin Women in Power, Austin Under 40, Local Heroes, and Top Cheese Shops in America are just some of the accolades and credits to their names. They’ve served as food and cheese competition judges, traveled across the globe to meet purveyors, given a TedX talk, and regularly speak on topics of entrepreneurship, passion with purpose, mental health challenges, and more. Their business recently celebrated a decade in business and today consists of a cut-to-order specialty cheese, cured meats, and pairings shop; a cheese house where they host 200-300 events yearly; and a warehouse from where they operate a wholesale program to Central Texas restaurants and ship monthly cheese club gifts nationwide. Most recently, they have been featured in national campaigns for their quick pivots during the pandemic.
About Antonelli’s Cheese Shop
On Kendall and John’s honeymoon, John announced that he wanted to quit his job and “do something in cheese.” Two years later, on February 11, 2010, the couple unlocked the front door to their very own cheese shop. They are often asked, “Why a Cheese Shop?” and the answer is simple. After putting themselves through cheese bootcamps, running a cheese club out of their house, attending cheese conferences, interning for French affineur Herve Mons, journeying through Europe, and eating their way through thousands of tasty cheese morsels, they honed in on their true passions. Then, over a bottle of wine one evening, they realized that working behind a cheese case would allow them to fulfill them all: eat great cheese, talk to whomever would listen, travel the world, and spend more time together. Ignoring all evidence of a down economy they went for it. The result is a cheese shop focused on sourcing the finest artisanal cheese and providing cut-to-order service in a relaxed, “taste before you buy” experience. Their mission: Do Good. Eat Good.