posted by Charles H. Russo on Jul 22
Some time ago, I visited Deuxbydeux whose post Say Fromage, I enjoyed. It reminded me how recently, I was at my favourite cheese shop in Paris and bought one of those wonderful goat cheeses. With the fromager, we had a long talk about what Europe does to our cheese-makers and more generally producers.
Just the goatcheese section!
It reminded me of one of the farmers at Deauville’s open-air market, who used to sell the best chickens on earth and the most wonderful fresh eggs.
A couple of years ago, to follow European guidelines, or whatever they call them, he had to buy a refrigerated if he wanted to go on selling his wonderful farm-made butter and double cream. So he did. As he is a really small producer, it represented a big investment for him.
You can see the refrigerated window in the background
Last year, European laws had it that producers had to mark all their eggs so that they could be traceable. It does seem to make sense, except that for the buyer, it doesn’t make much difference, since she can’t make heads or tail of what’s written on the egg.
Anyway, that was the coup de gr?ce for Mr R. who was already pretty old and decided he would stop his egg production.
Where do I go now to buy my eggs? Well, either I find a reliable farm and drive there, that is, when I am in Normandy, or, like most people, I get my eggs at the supermarket
Now cheese. We are a country with hundreds of cheeses. But you in the States or outside France, have no idea what they actually taste like because you only get to taste the pasteurised kind, unless you taste them here. When I say not pasteurised, it doesn’t entail that the cheese is made in dirty or unhealthy conditions, it means that it’s made along age-old traditions, with all the advantages of modern cleanliness.
Maybe pasteurising is safer. But in the end, won’t all those pasteurised cheeses end up tasting all alike?
It would be too bad, wouldn’t it, and I hope I won’t live to see cheese platters like this one, disappear.
Cheese plate composed by my cousin Chantal
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