The cheese guy
Marc Bates of Cannon Beach has a lot
to share about cheese at a workshop May 30
Coastal Life
Story by MARILYN GILBAUGH
M
arc Bates, aka the
Cheese Guy, will
present a one-day In-
troduction to Cheese
and Cheese Making
Workshop from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Saturday,
May 30 at the Cannon
Beach Community Center. Cheese lovers,
cheese likers, or even if you’re simply curi-
ous, Marc Bates is your go-to guy. He’s up
to date with the latest trends and topics in an
ever-growing cheese-consuming world. Be it
the basics or the boutiques; American-made
or imported; pasteurized or raw, with 45
years of experience in the dairy industry, if
it’s cheese-related, he’s got game.
”Starting out with what the heck is it, why
do we make it, and a short history course
(short being the operative word — according
to a bevy of sources on the Internet, cheese
PDGHLWV¿UVWDSSHDUDQFHVRPHZKHUHLQ$VLD
between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago when a
man on a camel found the milk in his sad-
dle bag had separated), we’ll divide cheese
into seven categories, which is an indus-
try standard,” said Bates about the intro to
cheese course. “It’s a good number to taste
and understand what make cheeses different
or similar, what makes different cheeses dif-
ferent colors, and what produces hard or soft
textures. Cow’s milk, sheep’s milk, and goat’s
milk, and sometimes a mix, there’s always
something new on the horizon.”
If you ask him about buffalo, reindeer,
camels and yak’s milk — he’ll have an an-
swer.
An afternoon of hands-on instruction
provides the class with an opportunity to
turn milk into curds and whey, and then into
cheese. It’s a day all mixed together sure to
include a few lifetime-spent-with-cheese in-
sider stories scattered throughout. Most of
all, it’s a unique opportunity to learn from
a master.
Bates and cheese were destined. Raised
on a dairy farm located between Burlington
and Arlington, Washington, he has experi-
enced a lifetime involvement with milk in
one capacity or another.
“I went to Washington State Universi-
ty to learn to make cheese. I didn’t know
that when I went there, but that’s what hap-
pened,” said Bates. His diploma lists a de-
gree in dairy manufacturing — the last of its
kind. The following year the same area of
4 | May 28, 2015 | coastweekend.com
Photo by Joshua Bessex
A pre-salted camembert cheese sits on Marc Bates’ table. After
salting, the cheese will sit for another 10 to 12 days to form a
rind. According to Bates, the taste and texture of the cheese will
continue to form over weeks.
Photo by Joshua Bessex
Various cheese-making instruments, including a PH probe
and thermometer, sit on a table in Marc Bates’ house.
study was renamed and rebranded as a de-
gree in food sciences.
Two years in the food services branch of
the U.S. Army followed graduation. Once
again, fate was waiting. Bates processed out
of the army. A WSU management position in
the food sciences department opened up. He
applied, was hired and remained for the next
27 years. He went to school learning to make
cheese, returning to manage it.
In the late 1930s, way before Bates, the
U.S. government and American Can Com-
pany funded research at WSU’s creamery.
The charge was to develop a cheese sealed
LQDWLQFDQ&RXJDU*ROGD¿UPZKLWHFKHG-
dar with a nutty sharp taste, packed in a
30-ounce round, shallow tin container was
the result.
Enter Bates. Norm Thompson, a retail
store in Portland contacted Bates at WSU’s
creamery in the early 1980s. The store want-
HG WR LQFOXGH &RXJDU *ROG LQ LWV ÀHGJOLQJ
holiday food catalog. The rest is history.
Bates negotiated the WSU supply, and the
store sold it. The award winning cheese,
Photo by Joshua Bessex
Marc Bates stands at his home in Cannon Beach.
LW¶VFODLPHGZLOOODVWLQGH¿QLWHO\ZKHQXQ-
opened and stored below 70 degrees. And it
EHFRPHVPRUHÀDYRUIXOZLWKDJH7RGD\DS-
proximately 250,000 tins of assorted chees-
es are produced by WSU’s creamery. More
than 80 percent of them, sold nationwide,
are Cougar Gold, each selling for around
$22.
Bates retired — or tried to. Moving to
Cannon Beach, his attempt was short lived.
The Oregon State University creamery in
Corvallis hadn’t made cheese for 40 years
but was gearing up to go at it again.
OSU Dairy Processing Extension Spe-
cialist Lisbeth Goddik heard Bates was in
the area. “We talked him out of retirement
to have him help us get the start-up right,”
she said. “We were so fortunate that Marc
came and helped us start up the cheese pro-
gram, which produces the Beaver Classic
(the friendly, so they say, WSU Cougar Gold
competitor). He did a fantastic job. He’s
wonderful at everything he does. He still
helps with short courses at the university,
helping artisan cheese makers.”
Bates, the man in charge of WSU’s Cou-
gar Gold, then OSU’s Beaver Classic; it’s
cheese, fate and Bates. “Collaboration at its
¿QHVW´DGGHG*RGGLN
Bates is again trying to re-retire — but
slowly. The Introduction to Cheese Work-
shop will accept 20 students. The cost is
$85. Tickets may be purchased through
Eventbrite
at
https://eventbrite.com/
event/16132150697. If there are still open-
ings, the cut-off date to sign up is Friday,
May 29. Bates may be contacted at cheese-
guy@charter.net or at 509-595-8652.