Some cheese I have recently eaten

It has only recently occured to me that I have been here for over 3 months now, and I have completely neglected to write anything about the most popular topic of conversation here in France, food.

Alright, we all know there are a whole stack of foods that really capture a Frenchman (or woman's) heart, but probably none more so than cheese. Stepping into the cheese aisle of even a small local supermarket, can be an overwhelming experience for the novice cheese hand (such as myself) and a visit to an even larger supermarket or speciality fromagier can be a downright nightmare.

Putting these fears aside, I trotted off to our local large supermarket, (Champion) to take in the wide variety of cheeses and bring a few home for a bit of a sample.

The first cheese I came home with was 'Pont l'Eveque', a very soft cheese originating from Normandy (north west France). Apparently it was originally manufactured 'in the area surrounding the commune of 'Pont 'l'Eveque' and is supposedly the oldest Norman cheese still in production, as it has been made since the 1100's.

I don't pretend to be any sort of cheese expert, so this is what wikipedia says about it. "Pont-l'Évêque is an uncooked, unpressed cows's milk cheese , square in shape usually at around 10cm square and around 3cm high, weighing 400g.

The central pâte is soft, has a creamy pale yellow colour with a smooth, fine texture and a pungent aroma. This is surrounded by a washed rind that is white with a gentle orange-brown coloration. The whole is soft when pressed but lacks elasticity"

This description was pretty much accurate when I ate it, and I certainly wouldn't complain about the taste. I guess in my mind it was pretty similar to eating a camembert but probably had a slightly stronger taste.

Secondly I came home with a Brillat-Savarin, another cheese from Normandy, and named after famed 17th century French gastromomer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. I had actually heard

of this guy prior to coming to France. For those of you who are fans of the TV show Iron Chef, each and every episode starts with a quote from Brillat-Savarin, "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are". Well Mr Savarin, I will tell you what I am, I am bloody excited to eat this cheese. It is very very soft, almost cream cheese like, and so very white. Almost as white as a pavlova. It has a very strong odor and tastes slightly sour. It is quite similar to Brie, (infact this cheese is a variety of triple cream brie) however it is a lot creamier and far whiter in colour than the slighly more yellow colour that you would get in a regular brie. I am certainly not going to complain about the taste, and hopefully my arteries don't complain too much about all of the fat either.

Thirdly I came home with Mimolette, which is bright orange in colour, and depending on the ageing can range in texture, from slightly soft (which this one was, as it was a 'Mimolette Jeune') to amost as hard as a rock (as was one I purchased a few weeks ago, which was 'Mimolette extra vieille' meaning well aged)

Mimolette is normally produced around Lille in France. The history of the cheese is that Louis XIV wanted France to produce a cheese that was similar to Edam. It was made in a similar way to Edam, but in order to distinguish it from Edam, Louis ordered that the cheese be coloured orange. The royal cheese makers were not going to argue with the big cheese Louis, (lol) so the resultant cheese, was one with a taste that closely resembles Edam, however a colour all of its own.

The orange colour of the cheese is made from the fruit (well actually the crushed up dried seeds) of an Achiote tree. (Apparently not native to Europe) Also cheese mites are added to the crust as part of the cheese making process in order to add flavour to the Mimolette.

This one I enjoyed the most, I have absolutely no idea whether it tastes like Edam or not as I am not enough of a connoisseur of cheese to know what Edam tastes like and have never eaten it regularly enough to know. In the photo it looks like a nice slice of fruit, but it certainly doesn't taste anything like fruit.

So there you have it, I had managed to sample three of the four hundred official cheeses in France, as denoted by the French Ministry of Agriculture. Only 397 more to go.