Michael and Charlie: The Twins Are Proud Cheese Experts Even Today

As a reality documentary breaking all bounds of the genre by profiling research whose primary two factors are food and twins, Netflix’s ‘You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment’ can only be described as gripping. After all, it revolves around a group of identical twins as they change their diets and lifestyles to explore precisely how foods impact the body in more ways than just physical. Amongst them to partake in it were actually Michael and Charlie Kalish – better known to the world as the Cheese Twins – so now, if you simply wish to learn more about them, we’ve got the details for you.

Who Are Michael and Charlie Kalish?

It was back when Michael and Charlie were relatively young that they first developed a passion for cheese, only for it to continue expanding as the years passed by. However, no one could have ever imagined that upon completing their education, these local Californians would end up getting formal training before actually stepping into the cheese world for good. While the former is reportedly the first American ever to receive formal training in dairy and meat processing, his brother trained in traditional French cheese-making across France, making their work as authentic as possible.

“I got into cheese originally because I wanted to get paid to travel and learn about European culture and I thought that working on cheese farms suit my creative writing interests,” Michael once candidly said. “I suppose I realized I was a cheese geek when I started spending 50-hour weeks underground turning tons of cheese… I left for France on a 3 ­month trip and returned after 4 years having worked in France, Switzerland, and Italy for some of the World’s best manufacturers and agers of cheese. It was a trip that gave me meaning on many levels and formed me as a person and worker.”

It hence comes as no surprise Michael and Charlie have since built a great name for themselves, which has only been furthered with their appearances in various television shows over the years. Apart from the aforementioned Netflix original, this includes WGN Morning News, ‘Chopped’ plus ‘The Great Food Truck Race,’ along with their own television original short ‘Big Cheese.’ Combined with their actual qualifications, learning capacity, and hard work, this has only propelled them further to the top, enabling them to serve as professional cheese & food safety consultants.

Where are Michael and Charlie Kalish Now?

According to reports, Michael and Charlie had kickstarted a consulting practice together near the mid-2010s, where a typical day for them comprised toiling different businesses, observing their cheese-making process, and then delving into the aging room. “A typical work day outside of the cheesemaking room,” the former said, “normally involves countless hours drafting HACCP plans, facility layouts, pathogen environmental monitoring programs, and recall plans. And normally in there is a phone call or two from a cheese maker trying to figure out what is happening in their aging room.”

Unfortunately, Michael and Charlie’s consultancy ostensibly closed down in the fall of 2022 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a few other issues, yet they’ve managed to thrive. In fact, from what we can tell through their respective online platforms, the twins are proud, hardworking family men who have since managed to find a balance between their personal and professional lives.

They’re still in the food and beverages industry as consultants, with the former also offering affinage workshops while the latter serves as an SAFHER Implementation Manager at the Association of Food and Drug Officials, but they also have families of their own. Moreover, we should mention that these twins even have an affinity for surfing, so whenever they’re not with family or talking cheese, they can be found on the waves off the coast of San Francisco.