Cheese in France	Facts and figures about cheese Cheese etiquette More to come...	To know more about cheese : Sign up for the next Wine and Cheese Tasting in Paris with Harriet Welty	Table of contents
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Facts and figures about cheese		Cheese etiquette
France has hundreds of different cheeses (everybody knows the word, attributed to Charles de Gaulle (or to Churchill?) : "How can you govern a country which has 365 different sorts of cheese ") : such a variety does not exist in any other cheese country The categories of cheese are (according to the excellent book by Randolph Hodgson French Cheeses, Doring Kindersley,1996) : Fresh, rindless, no affinage : ex. fromage frais Uncooked, unpressed, soft with white mould : ex. Camembert Uncooked, unpressed, soft with washed rind : ex. Munster Uncooked, unpressed, soft, natureal mould sometimes covered with ashes : ex. chêvre Uncooked, unpressed, soft, with veins of blue mould : ex. bleu Uncooked, unpressed, semi-hard with natural mould : ex. Saint-Nectaire Uncooked, unpressed, semi-hard, with washed and waxed rind : ex. Port-du-Salut Cooked, pressed, hard : ex. Beaufort Started with whey : ex. Brocciu Product based on cheese : ex. fromage fort About the very odorous "époisse", French poet Paul Valéry said "it is the smell of the feet of God"! The Raw-Milk-War : the best cheeses are made with raw milk. It gives more taste because the (good) germs are alive and well. Most foreign regulations limit or forbid it, in the name of hygiene. France has to fight against the European administration which, under the pressure of countries which do not have any good cheese want to ban raw milk cheese from French stomachs. This war is now almost a victory for France. France also fights against US and Canadian regulations to be able to export its most massive destruction cheeses (M.D.C.) but this war is far from being won yet. See also the Wood-Shaving-War, the Rosé War and the Chocolate War. Each region of France has its own cheeses, with some specificities : Auvergne (Center) has the largest variety and some of the best, Corsica has some of the strongest, Flanders (North) some of the stinkiest, etc Some of the most "spectacular" cheeses are (but this is a matter of personal taste) : Mont-d'Or : almost liquid, for dinner at Christmas or New Year Eve Puant-de Lille : the worst smell and a very delicate taste Saint-Nectaire : many people consider it the King of Cheeses More to come.... The French consumption is very high : 24,6 kilos/year (source : FAO-2002) compared to 15,2 for USA and 10 for UK. See detailed comparative figures.		M.Priet, cheese shop owner Rue des Pyrénées, ParisI If you have (French) guests, always offer cheese after the main course and before dessert, with a minimum choice (two or three, but a real " plateau de fromages " has always more than that) ; it is a tradition to circulate the plate only once (no second helping ) A cheese plate is not a meal : it comes at the end of "real" meal ; do not invite French people and offer them only cheese ! Depending on its shape, each cheese must be cut according to specific rules : for instance, do not cut only the blue part of blue cheese or cut round cheeses from tre center ! Don't be prejudiced : very smelly cheeses do not necessarily taste strong, try blue cheeses and do not be afraid of their taste, etc... Try to avoid keeping cheese in the refrigerator : it kills the taste Depending on its taste and its category, a cheese matches better with certain wines than with others : it is not rigid but there are rules it is not necessarily red wine that matches the best try to associate wine and cheese from the same region sweet white wines (Sauternes, Loupiac,..) go very well with blue cheeses (Roquefort, Bleu d'Auvergne,...) pair dry white wine with goat cheeses and sweet white wine with very strong cheeses with camembert, you can try cider More about wine According to our "statistics", in our Wine & Cheese Tastings, the American preferences, in term of French cheeses, are : most appreciated cheeses...   least appreciated cheeses... tasting relatively familiar (comté, mimolette,..), already known (camembert, brie,..)   too strong (Roquefort, some goat cheeses like Corsican,...), very smelly (Epoisses, Vieux Lille,...) More about cheese : On cheese etiquette on the page about "French Fried : the Culinary Capers of an American in Paris" Visit the best French cheese website Read about bread etiquette
For more : Read the "Profile of a cheese shop owner in Paris" Read a great book : The Best Butter, by Jean Dutourd (Simon & Schuster, 1956) is the story of an (infamous) cheese shop owner during the German occupation. You'll learn a little bit about cheese and a lot about history. About French-bashing, read about "cheese eating surrender monkeys" DID YOU KNOW THAT...? In Paris every years, there is a contest between local bakers : "Who makes the best baguette?". The tradition is that the winner becomes, for a whole year, the supplier of the Elysee palace and of the President of France.		Are French cheeses dangerous ? For most French people, the ban of some French cheeses is hard to explain...

To related pages : tips on food, French attitudes, interculturaldifferences, etc...
To table of contents To top of the page Back to home page	Harriet Welty Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French. Order her books : "Joie de Vivre", Secrets of Wining, Dining and Romancing like the French, St.Martin's Press, New York, 2012 "French Toast, An American in Paris Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press, New York, 1999 "French Fried, The Culinary Capers of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001 More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming events, testimonials, etc..)
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