Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Centamore.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I began my wine & cheese adventure over a decade ago when I started studying for a degree in gastronomy. My first class was a certification in cheese with the owner of Formaggio Kitchen, a world-renowned cheese shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
By some miracle, eating cheese and drinking wine each week for a semester spoke to me! (They say the wand chooses the wizard, right?) When the program concluded, I started an internship at Formaggio Kitchen which quickly turned into a full-time opportunity. At the same time, I was achieving certifications in wine studies.
A few months into my tenure, an instructor for one of their classes had to bow out and I was asked to step in. I had a fantastic experience and a LOT of fun and began teaching more and more. After a year or so, I started teaching in people’s homes and offices as word-of-mouth spread.
Now I conduct nearly 150 events a year all over the place, for all kinds of corporate and private clients. I teach seminars at food & wine festivals, and I’ve even had the fortune to write a book, Tasting Wine & Cheese – An Insider’s Guide to Mastering the Principles of Pairing. I’m also writing articles about wine and cheese for various publications.
It’s been an unbelievably rewarding and fun experience thus far, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road is never totally smooth, right? Struggles and tough lessons learned are part and parcel of owning your own business. Fortunately for me what I do is a “want”, not a “need”, despite people insisting they can’t live without wine and cheese!
Most of the bumps I’ve encountered have been self-inflicted. Forgetting a cutting board, or not remembering to chill the white wines fully… that sort of stuff. Those lessons come from experiencing the embarrassment of trying to explain to a client why their cheeses are sitting in your fridge.
The other growing pains have come from learning the ins-and-outs of the logistics side of owning a business. Getting familiar and comfortable with billing systems and ordering materials and tax implications and stuff takes a lot of energy. I suspect I’ll be ‘learning as I go’ for a long time still.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Adam Centamore Tastings – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
The simplest way to describe what I do is to say I’m a food & wine educator who specializes in wine and cheese. It’s far too blunt a description, though. What I do is far more nuanced…
I’m a storyteller, sharing the wonders of Swiss alpine pastures, Italian villages where they make their own buffalo milk butter, or a small Parisian bistro that makes the greatest duck confit you’ve ever had from a hundred-year-old recipe they refuse to talk about. I travel to not only enjoy the experience but equally to impart the glories of the food and wine world with my clients in ways they can relate to.
I give people experiences, having them try foods they probably have never even heard of – Bulgarian wild honey, Corsican herbed sheep cheeses, or Portuguese fig cakes soaked in port wine, for example. Each culture in the world has their own ingredients, techniques, and philosophies. I see my job as visiting these cultures, internalizing their characteristics, and sharing that with my guests.
What sets me apart from others is my sheer passion for what I teach, and my willingness to immerse myself in the global food and wine world to really get to know it and share it. I travel as frequently as I can, but it’s never enough! There’s always a different place to explore. Normandy, Catalonia, the Alto Adige… the list is long.
I’m not totally sure what I’m most proud of. I can tell you I do pride myself to a degree on the authenticity of what I bring to my events and seminars. I’m using cheeses imported directly from small villages in France, or raw honey sourced in the Val d’Aosta of Italy, or dessert wine made by a small producer in the Thracian Valley of Bulgaria. I only use ingredients that are authentic to the cultures from where they came.
Sometimes that means hauling them back myself. Earlier this year I was in Paris and brought back 25 (!) different honeys from all over France. It’s stuff you can’t find here.
They were so good I knew my clients would love them so I wrapped ’em and tucked them into my suitcase.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I know I want to grow. Up to this point, this whole endeavor has been a labor of love and something I pursued in addition to a “9-5” job. I’m at the point now where I want to make the jump to doing only this.
I’m still learning how to make that happen, but the path is starting to become more clear. I also plan to increase my travel and writing. I want to make those more central to what I do.
I’m excited to see where I am in 12 months. And in 3 years. And a decade!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.adamcentamore.com
- Phone: (617) 750-1295
- Email: adam@adamcentamore.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatdrinklearn/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatdrinklearn/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/100loves
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
