Have your cheese ball and eat it, too

Behold - the power of cheese. Claudio, the Italian Market's very own mozzarella factory, beckons for passersby to come in and bear witness to its glorious display of cheese. The shop opens into a single room lined packages of pastas, bottles of oils and jars of olives. But it was the main display case that caught my eye with its simple yet complete set of mozerella options.

The proprietor, Roxanne Auriemma, immediately recognized me, even though my last visit had been over a year ago. Roxanne is the owner's wife, and the manager of Claudio. Even though she did not grow up in Philadelphia (and currently lives in the suburbs), Auriemma's shop has become a true mainstay of the Italian Market.

As she takes a break outside during a lull in business, she told me about how she loves to observe the entertaining cast of character that make up the Italian Market. "Just last week, I saw two homeless people having sex in that parking lot over there!" she said. Personally, nothing makes me want cheese more.

I decided to sample the large mozzarella balls ($5.99/lb) and the small marinated balls. The large balls were perfectly salty and simultaneously sweet. At home, as I cut the cheese into slices, I felt my knife slide effortlessly though its creamy flesh. These balls are the best I've ever tasted.

The most striking part of my experience at Claudio's was when I peered into the back of the shop and saw their mozzarella-producing machinery. The juxtaposition between the pneumatic industrial machinery and the traditional organic process of producing mozzarella was striking.

Surprisingly enough, the cheese making process's metallic quality did not interfere with my enjoyable tasting experience. I wondered, as I stood holding a dense and supple cheese mass, have robots superseded man in his culinary prowess? Is this conquest the first in a line of humiliating defeats that will culminate in world robot domination? I can't be sure, but keep making that delicious mozzarella, Claudio... and be wary.

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