Whether you love or despise it, that blue cheese smell has a distinctive whakapapa. Caused by a compound called 2-heptanone, research suggests our sensitivity to or love of this scent appears to be genetically influenced. While the unique taste and aroma of blue cheese is caused by a whole menagerie of chemicals, there appears to be a genetic predisposition for some to be intolerant of mouldy blue cheese. Trippy, eh? Then there’s the locus coeruleus – Latin for ‘blue place’ – that is a part of the brain that loves those crystals in blue cheese, making our dreams even more trippy than normal. It’s fascinating as, however you smell it, blue cheese is in our DNA. I love how those crunchy bits and that smell of Peninsula Blue trips me out like no other blue. In my curd nerd experience of buying and selling shedloads of blue cheese, I wasn’t really affected by that smell that everyone else experienced. Until I danced with Peninsula Blue. It was a real crossing over into a new sensory space, a spectrum of food adventure much like an Indiana Jones film, likely Temple of Doom. But no doom here, more a complex fudgy, silky, salty and sweet trip, riddled with blue. Find a nice cosy chair, pour yourself something boozy; this is the kind of cheese you want to share DNA with. CALUM HODGSON – THE CURD NERD