Max McCalman is the foremost—and perhaps only—“cheese sommelier” in America. As a maître fromager, he runs the country’s first temperature-and-humidity-controlled cheese caves (refrigerated lockers) at two haute-cuisine restaurants, Picholine and Artisanal, in Manhattan.

At these French cheese-centric eateries, an olfactory assault greets customers. “The microflora in the air gives sensational smells of flowers, yeast, milk, grasses, and herbs,” he says.

McCalman is responsible for planning, ordering, ripening, and serving as many as 65 types of cheeses he features on the cheese board daily. At Picholine, he helps diners make selections, then hand-cuts each on the trolley he wheels around to the table. He describes his offerings as “profound, majestic, luxurious, lingering, and persistent.” At most of Picholine’s tables, at least one person chooses from the board; the smile that follows beckons others to sample as well. “It’s thrilling to try a new cheese,” McCalman says.

McCalman wrote The Cheese Plate (Clarkson Potter, 2002), a celebratory reference book that explains how cheese is made, lists the world’s best cheeses (including where they’re from and what they look and taste like), and advises how to buy, store, and serve cheese. The book also suggests cheese plates suitable for each course, meal, and season, and pairs varieties with other foods and beverages, especially wines.

McCalman denounces the common beliefs that cheese is fattening, raises cholesterol, or is laden with lactose. “There is more nutritive value in cheese ounce per ounce than in any other food, including the edible egg,” he insists. Cheese, which he describes as “the preservation of milk,” builds lean body mass, he says. (The 50-year-old McCalman’s trim appearance and good health do not suggest otherwise.) Fortunately for him, cheese consumption is increasing dramatically. Americans ate 45 pounds per person in 2003, compared to only 25 pounds 15 years ago, he says.

McCalman has inspired many cheese lovers. “I’ve had a lot of apprentices who are now spreading the curd,” he laughs.