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The great Cheese making Tradition of France is in jeopardy.
Posted on 02/21/2009 3:25:31 PM PST by Cincinna
It was a typical globalization-era war that pitted tradition against profits. A large cheese factory wanted to change the Camembert recipe and began a dirty fight against small producers. This time, though, tradition emerged victorious.
When Luc Morelon was still convinced that this was a winnable war, he was willing to give interviews in his office on the 30th floor of the Montparnasse Tower, with its view of the Eiffel Tower and of a deceptively peaceful-looking sea of shimmering Parisian rooftops in the morning mist. "snip" he was no longer available for further attacks by the "self-proclaimed custodians of tradition," and that he was tired of listening to the chants of "the small against the big" and the constant talk of a "Camembert war."
Suddenly the world's most famous cheese was in jeopardy. It was a severe blow to French national pride. This was about France's culinary splendor, which like the beret, the bottle of wine and the baguette, is as much a part of the French self-image as it is a time-honored cliché. Until then, Lactalis and Isigny had together produced more than 80 percent of the true and unique "Camembert de Normandie"Now they were saying, after more than 100 years of tradition, that it was all over, that Camembert made with raw milk presented an imminent danger and was a health hazard. It was a declaration of war.
More than Just Camembert
At first, French newspapers and magazines devoted as much attention to the story as they would have to a terrorist attack in downtown Paris. In fact, it was characterized as a kind of assassination, an assault on culinary tradition and the attempted murder of small Camembert producers. At first, it was not about cheese but tradition, about so much more than Camembert.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
My favorite Camembert.
Not so into surrender, when it involves cheese.
Although the French do produce a lot of different cheeses of varying quality, their best products are their goat's milk cheeses, and even people who are lactose intolerant can enjoy to a limited degree without the problem faced with young cow's milk cheeses.
Best bet for the lactose intolerant remain all the aged cheddars from New York, Vermont and Canada. Wisconsin cheddars are shipped too young (gotta' be 9 months or more to reduce that sugar content to where it's safe), and too many of them are made with milk contaminated with garlic (eaten by cows in the Spring).
At the moment the major cheese in this household is an extrasharp cheddar sold at Costco in 2 pound chunks. What we do is let it age 2 or 3 more months, then chop it into large blocks which we repackage and save until we are finished with it. You can intersperse some of those $20 a pound cheeses from Spain, Switzerland, Scandinavia and so forth ~ and feel like you're eating enough cheese, and not paying all that much for it.
Trader Joe's also peddles some excellent $5 a pound Ghouda and Edan cheeses ~ but you'll have to watch for them.
If you just have to have your raw milk cheese, the Amish make several kinds. Indiana allows its sale without any restrictions.
Moe, larry, cheese
Moe, larry, cheese
which one
the camem-boit.
Last time I was over there I had to do a double take when I saw the prices on some of the Camembert and Brie. Like 1 euro for a decent circle of the stuff. A fraction of what you’d pay for the same article here. I think we slap pretty hefty tarifs on French cheeses (plus the cost to transport it etc.). Not too many bargains to be had while over there, but that was definitely one of them.
Camembert “Ah! We do have some Camembert, sir......It's a bit runny, sir....'Well as a matter of fact it's very runny, sir....I think it's runnier than you like it, sir...Yes, sir." (bends below counter and reappears) "Oh...The cat's eaten it."
I’ve been eating Camembert for sixty years.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Count Floyd demands equal time.
It's about control.
L
I beg to differ.
Camembert is a magnificent cheese. French Chgeese is magnificent. Traditional products made from the finest ingredients, produced by hand under traditional conditions.,
If it isn’t to your personal taste,choose something else.
For me, Roquefort is still the King of Cheeses, Parmigiano Reggiano, the Queen.
Since the French live longer and are in better health than any other society, the pathogen thing is ridiculous.
Aren’t you the lucky one!
Question for you: do any French cheeses compare, in taste, to Gouda, especially smoked Gouda?
?
I guess I am lucky. Cheese is something that I could live on.
</;o)
I miss liederkranz cheese.
I didn’t check yet for the probably inevitable Monty Python refs...
compared to Locatelli Pecorino Romano, it is second rate.
How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese? -- Charles De Gaulle, "Les Mots du General", 1962
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