Emilia D'albero is named as the 2026 Daphne Zepos Research Award recipient

NEW YORK - May 11, 2026 - PRLog -- The Daphne Zepos Teaching Endowment (DZTE) announced the recipient of its annual $3250 Daphne Zepos Research Award (DZRA) scholarship to world-renowned cheesemonger Emilia D'albero last week. She is the 5th recipient of the award since it was established in 2021. Emilia will spend the next year interviewing global cheesemongers building a curriculum that can be put into practice across cheese shops and retail programs across the United States. "I want to offer cheesemongers a place to learn, practice, share knowledge, and make mistakes, in a low-stress environment" says D'Albero.  "Emilia has successfully built training modules in each company she has worked and proven time and time again a commitment to the greater improvement to the quality of cheesemongers in the USA, making her more than capable of executing this project with the full resources of our organization behind her," says DZTE Executive Director Rachel Juhl.

About Emilia D'Albero

Emilia D'Albero has been a visible member of the cheese community for the last decade. She began her cheese journey at Eataly's Flatiron location leading their catering department before starting her cheesemongering career at Greene Grape Provisions in 2020. She used her social media platform to educate other cheesemongers on best practices before placing second at the Cheesemonger Invitational in 2021 and then first place at the 2025 Mondial du Fromage. Emilia is currently the sales, education, and marketing manager for Formaticum, training mongers all over the country on best practices for cheese care.

Emilia will present the findings from her research in Spring 2027 with a quarterly published training handbook/zine. You may follow her journey on Instagram @emdalbero.

About the Organization

The Daphne Zepos Teaching Endowment (DZTE) aims to grow a team of cheese professionals who teach about the history, culture and techniques in making, aging and selling cheese. Each year recipients are chosen to learn about cheese. The recipients share their learnings with the cheese community the following year. The Daphne Zepos Teaching Endowment is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Learn more at http://dzte.org/

About Daphne

Daphne Zepos was one of the most outspoken, insightful and dynamic advocates for the cause of traditional cheese in the U.S. and around the world. Daphne played a prominent role in nearly every major cheese event in the U.S. and Europe. She lectured, moderated, and presented at the American Cheese Society's Annual conference. She taught at Slow Food's bi-annual Cheese in Bra, Italy, and at courses throughout the country, including the Cheese School of San Francisco and Zingerman's in Ann Arbor. She died in 2012.