CHICAGO — Chicagoan and cheese priestess Erika Kubick dives into the connection between cheese, magic and the seasons in her latest book, “Cheese Magic.”

Kubick is the founder of Cheese Sex Death, a blog she launched in 2015 that has grown into two books and a large social media following. She published her first book, titled after her blog, in 2021 and has followed it up with her second, “Cheese Magic,” which released Sept. 16.

Kubick is celebrating her latest book with a party and market 3-8 p.m. Oct. 18 at Sideshow Gallery, 2219 N. Western Ave. in Bucktown. She will be signing books, and there will be local vendors selling cheese plates, giving tarot readings, performing astrology sessions and more.

The event is free; guests can RSVP here. 

Erika Kubick, author of Cheese Magic, poses for a portrait at Beautiful Rind, 2211 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Logan Square on Aug. 20, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Kubick described her first book as more of a reference book where she could teach people the basics of cheese, including its history, different types and how to buy, plate and cook it, she told Block Club.

“Cheese Magic” was her opportunity to get a little more “esoteric,” she said. 

“I wanted to explore new territory,” said Kubick, who got her start in cheese at the now shuttered Pastoral cheese shop. “I don’t want to teach Cheese 101 anymore. I’m really happy to be here, and I’m so grateful that this book, I feel like, took me over that bridge.” 

Kubrick, who is a practicing witch, knew she wanted her next book to be a spellbook, she said. There’s a long history between cheese and witchcraft — including practices like fortune-telling with cheese — and she decided to lean into that with her latest book, she said.

There are guides at the start and end of “Cheese Magic” with tips for things like how to prepare a kitchen for spell-casting and a glossary of the magical correspondences for certain foods or ingredients.

But the book is meant for the spell-casting and non-magic-practicing alike, Kubick said.

The book itself is divided into eight sections guided by the seasonal festivals in Pagan tradition, each tied to a seasonal solstice, equinox or cross-quarter — the midway point between solstices and equinoxes — festival.

The sections include a recipe for a breakfast, lunch, salad, appetizer, three accompaniment recipes, two beverage recipes and three cheese plates. Most of the recipes directly include cheese, but others are meant to be paired alongside them. 

For Kubick, the seasonality of cheeses — meaning certain cheeses being only available in the summer versus cheeses typical sold in winter — felt like natural way to ritualize her love of cheese, she said. 

“I think a lot of us really need to be grounded right now,” she said. “One of the only things that really makes me feel grounded is eating good food, and good food is also really expensive, so I think that ritualizing it makes [it] more of a ceremony. You’re not just nourishing yourself physically; you’re nourishing yourself spiritually and providing yourself with just a little bit of pleasure, which is so important right now.”

Erika Kubick, author of Cheese Magic, poses for a portrait at Beautiful Rind, 2211 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Logan Square on Aug. 20, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

One of Kubick’s favorite recipes in the book are raspberry, brie and orange marmalade “love tarts,” she said. 

“You can use it for developing self love or to even use it as a love spell, which is how I wrote it,” she said. “But you also don’t have to do that, like you could just make them like a tart, whatever you want to do.”

Another of the book’s highlights is the pesto-baked camembert — a soft, French cheese with roasted grapes — a nod to a grape and pesto focaccia breakfast sandwich Kubick had at Logan Square’s Lula Cafe.

It can be hard to get people out of their comfort zone with cheese, but Kubick hopes “Cheese Magic” can provide simple, easy-to-use recipes for people to try cheeses they might see as intimidating, she said. 

“That’s part of the reason why I started my brand, to help people,” she said. “I thought of myself as a bridge between the public and the industry. But it’s a tall hill to climb to try to help the public feel comfortable walking in front of a cheese case.”

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