In this week’s edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we’re at the Bloom Cheese Collective in Fayetteville talking with the supremely energetic co-owner Ali Kay Hammer Cameron, but first!!!

FOOD NEWS!!

• Handshake opens at the Fayetteville Public Library. We’ll tell you what to expect!


• Firecat Coffee opens in South Fayetteville.


• Cronut Donuts are opening their 3rd spot in south Fayetteville


• The 12th Annual Nog-Off was a supreme success at Maxine’s Taproom.


• Crisp & Green is opening in Fayetteville- we’ll tell you when.


• Potbelly’s Sandwiches is opening in Springdale in spitting distance from Crisp & Green (if you’re good at that sort of thing).


• Monte Ne Inn is close to the off-season. Go get your family-style chicken, pronto!


• The Honeycomb Kitchen Shop added the Honeycomb Wine Shop.


• Tonight is Occupy Odd Soul night in downtown Springdale. Come donate a pizza with me!


• Ria Pizza is coming to DTR!


• Happy Anniversary to Vetro 1925 and Envision Nutrition- y’all are getting old!


• This week’s Flavors Flashback takes us to the River Grille where we hear about bootlegging in the early days (true-ish story).

Ali Kay Hammer Cameron entered the cheese world initially due to locational happenstance.  She lived near a cheese shop in Dallas that she fell in love with and eventually worked there. She’ll tell us about her budding love affair with cheese, and how she became a certified cheese professional...

After some time in North Carolina, she and her husband Brooks moved to Fayetteville to be closer to family, and build a family of their own... What made her want to start a cheese shop here? She tells the story about what it was that made her decide to do it.

Also, when putting together a cheese shop, what’s the most important part of it? And what cheeses do you start with? Finally, they have some big plans for 2026, and she lets us in on a fun one... that’s next here on the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas!