In Checkout Line, Lou Bendrick cooks up answers to reader questions about how to green their food choices and other diet-related quandaries. Lettuce know what food worries keep you up at night.

Dear Checkout Line,

In our search to eat local, we've uncovered some lovingly handmade local cheeses. They certainly have more variety -- sheep, goat, wallaby (well, maybe not wallaby) -- and are definitely lots more expensive than the shrink-wrapped yellow plastic squares of cheddar. But are they actually any better for you? Isn't one half-pound hunk of hard fat just about the same as any other? And are all those dangerous-looking blue cheeses and unpasteurized ones any better for your friendly gut bugs?

Cheers, Michele and the other cheese-eaters

Dear Michele and the other cheese-eaters,

Thank you for the best segue I'll ever get in my entire writing life! I've been dying to find a way to use this: Did you know that scientists are studying the milk from the Tammar wallaby, a kind of petite kangaroo? As it turns out, wallaby milk packs such an immunity wallop that may be helpful in fighting antibiotic- resistant bacteria, or superbugs.

OK! Let's move on: As it turns out, hunks of hard fat are not all created alike. Artisan hard fat is unlikely to be preternaturally orange or have additives, emulsifiers, loads of salt, or unfermented dairy ingredients.

 "In general, artisan cheeses are healthier because they are not highly processed"...

Full Story: http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/12/18/17757/745?source=weekly