An homage to fromage

Ted. I can think of no country that takes food more seriously than France. If you watch a lady in the market pondering melons, the helpful fruit seller may initiate a dialog by asking, “On what day do you plan to eat this melon, madame?” I could wax poetic about the meats (especially rabbit), sausages, vegetables, mushrooms (ah, truffles) breads, pastries and wines. But, in France, no food is more important than cheese.

Pistou and chevre snack

In a traditional meal, cheese is not a snack to be nibbled before dinner. Rather, it is a full course served after the main dish and before, or in lieu of dessert. And it won't be just one cheese. The platter set lovingly on the table will have at least four or five varieties. There are cow, goat and sheep cheeses. They can be aged or fresh and are often flavored with herbs or mushrooms. Charles de Gaulle once shrugged, "How can you govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheeses?" and nowadays there are hundreds more.

I neglected to take any photos of the cheese stalls at the markets we visit but you can find lots of photos online. The temptations are often overwhelming. We eat cheeses for snacks at anytime of the day but I also end up throwing some in whatever I am cooking.

Pistou cheese omelette

When I examined our spending this past month, I found that we were running way over budget for groceries. Upon further study, it turned out that cheese was the culprit. We were spending close to $10/day on cheese. Judy and I discussed briefly the possibility of cutting back on our cheese buying but, in the end, we decided that “When in France…”