Jeff Roberts, president of Cow Creek Creative Ventures, provides consulting services to small-scale food producers and is a frequent speaker in Europe and the United States on artisan food, sustainable agriculture, and the working landscape. He co-founded the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese at the University of Vermont and wrote The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese. Jeff is a member of Guilde Internationale des Fromagers. He taught the history and culture of food at the New England Culinary Institute and was visiting professor at the Slow Food University of Gastronomic Science. His book Salted & Cured: Savoring the Culture, Heritage and Flavor of America’s Preserved Meats traces the history and culture of dry-cured meat from 1630 to the present.
Recent initiatives include gastronomy and cultural tours in the Italian regions of Molise, Piemonte, and Sicily. Currently, he is working to create Vermont’s first American Viticulture Area.
During his career, Jeff was a meteorologist, museum curator, associate dean at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, and vice president at the Vermont Land Trust. Jeff was active in Slow Food International and USA as national board director and also director of the Vermont Arts Council and Vermont Fresh Network.