” How do you want to govern a country where there are 246 varieties of cheese? “General de Gaulle would have laughed, anxious to cut short a discussion on regional identity in favor of a debate of much greater importance: that of the incommunicability between lovers of Brie de Meaux, Roquefort or Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine? Half a century later, it is no longer a question of territorial borders, but of ideological divides between cheese lovers.
The Thuriferaires of Saint-Nectaire Auvergnat, Ossau Iraty Basque and Pélardon Cévenol are all ultimately of the same obedience. Followers of Anthelme Brillat-Savarin for whom “a dessert without cheese is a beauty that lacks an eye”. In other words, fervent defenders of local products, adepts of gastronomically correct who only consume the dish as a supplement to a good meal (or as a complement to a bad one, it depends), accompanied by a baguette. Boomers a little conservative who swear by Brillat-Savarin, cylindrical cheese with a melting and creamy texture revealing notes of mushroom and undergrowth.
“Smart stingy”
In front of them, a new wave of consumers, advocating liberalism right down to the plate, opposes an uninhibited vision of this emblem of the national gastronomic heritage with the Saint Môret truffle. An industrial and inexpensive spread, born in the 1980s, in which you only need to incorporate a spoonful of truffle chips to look chic, while playing the experienced cooks. A recipe for “smart stingers” with the best effect to serve as an aperitif on a crunchy toast or, in Anglo-Saxon style, in “dips”, that is to say in a bowl where you dip sticks of raw vegetables.
The members of the Fromages de terroir association will probably not drink to the health of the supporters of this “contemporary cheese-making gesture” on New Year’s Eve. We are rarely conservative and at the same time progressive. A common point unites them, however. All are lactotolerant homo sapiens. An endangered species !
Our Christmas duels
Are you an oyster or a lobster?
Are you a flavored salmon or tarama?
Are you champagne or Christmas beer?
Are you a chicken or a capon?
Are you dauphine or mashed sweet potato?
Are you a foie gras in jelly or a vegetable pie?
Are you an ice cream log or a cream log?
Are you Sauternes or Sake?
Are you candied chestnuts on energy balls?
Are you toast or blinis?
Are you fond of bottarga or pressed caviar?
Are you a panettone or a log?
Are you a papillote or a chocolate truffle?
Are you petits fours or babka?
Are you whiskey or limoncello?