Cheese: a religion invented in France.

There is a German expression to qualify the perfect happiness:  To be as happy as God in France.  Outside of France everybody likes France, which would certainly be paradise on earth, if it weren’t for its inhabitants!

The French! Arguers, but whiners.  Undisciplined, but hardworking.  Individualistic, but moutonniers, blind conformists.  Passionate about equality, but just as passionate about privileges.  Unbearably egoistic, but ready to act for a generous idea.

So, it’s little surprise that the French developed the skills that make this country famous.  Just combine their intelligence to know how to live (their unique savoir vivre) and their gourmandise and you have the recipe for their most successful products.

To illustrate this point, I will tell you what these successes are. 

Cheese is the first example.  The French have developed a true religion around a simple and archaic technique of draining milk.  (Wine is the second example, but we’ll talk about this one in more detail a little later on.)

There is even someone, specifically a man named Léon-Paul Fargue, who exclaimed “Le camembert, ce fromage qui fleure les pieds du bon Dieu”

“Le camembert, ce fromage qui fleure les pieds du bon Dieu”

Please do not take this as blasphemy:  I am sure that if you like cheese as much as I do, you will understand.

Why a religion around cheese?  Let’s see, this definitely has something to do with the abundance of choice when it comes to cheese.  To list a few famous ones: Camembert, Roquefort, Brie, and Reblochon.

As cheese lovers, we all remember the first time we had the privilege of tasting a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau with a piece of French cheese as autumn was starting to fall.

And did you see them, the fromager’s army at work, in the morning when they put all their different kinds of cheeses out?  Each cheese has a different personality, appearance, taste and flavour.  Did you see how the fromager handles it?  Like a precious thing that you have to worship, with care and silence.  (To contrast, the fishermen in the markets are always screaming).    

I read once that General Charles de Gaulle once exclaimed “How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?”  The number is now north of 400.  In France, there could be a different cheese for each day of the year, even in a leap year!

And I’m sure that each French person has, at least once in his or her life, quoted the famous phrase of the gastronome Brillat-Savarin: “Un dinner sans fromage est une belle à qui il manque un oeil”

“Un dinner sans fromage est une belle à qui il manque un oeil”

I recently read a study that placed the Germans as the world’s largest importer of cheese.  Ah-ah.  I think now I know why the Germans invented this expression about happiness being in France.  We all know who is first for exporting cheese!