The half-full bucket was startlingly warm. How had she never before realized what a food writer truly reported on, what all these cheesemakers were really doing? They lived among the animals, encouraging the growth of liquid inside them, then squeezed it out and aged it into a cake. It was repulsive; it was genius. She felt a little sick, a little hungry, a little enamored. The cows shifted their massive weight on their hooves. Up the hill, the farmers' little manmade cave was stuffed withcheeses, each wrapped in cloth and thyme and ash, brushed with leftover brandy. Humans were insane.

Michelle Wildgen's first novel, You're Not You (St. Martins/Thomas Dunne) has been praised by the New York Times, O, Elle, The Believer and elsewhere, and was one of People Magazine's top ten books of 2006. She is also the editor of an anthology, Food & Booze, and a senior editor at Tin House Magazine and an editor at Tin House Books. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Best New American Voices 2004, Best Food Writing 2004, StoryQuarterly, TriQuarterly, Gulf Coast, Prairie Schooner, andother journals. She is at work on her second novel.