Photo: Capucine Gillier/Musée du Fromage.
The exterior of the newly-opened Musee du Fromage in Paris. The French are estimated to eat about 44 pounds to 60 pounds of cheese per person annually.
With the eyes of the world on Paris and the summer Olympics just now, it’s a good time to highlight a museum that could only be in Paris: The Museum of Cheese.
Kim Willsher writes at the Guardian, “Say ‘cheese’ and Pierre Brisson is a happy man. The founder of France’s first cheese museum is passionate about the subject – and not just eating it but passing on the traditional skills of cheesemaking to future generations.
“ ‘It’s not an easy job but a marvelous one and there is a real risk that it could disappear,’ he said. … ‘We hear a lot about wines and how they are made and the subtleties of taste and how they are produced and nothing about cheese. Although people like eating it and the demand for cheese is still high, fewer youngsters want to make a career of it.’ …
“Visitors will be charged [~$20] to watch a demonstration of how various cheeses are made, take part in a tasting and learn the history of cheese and regional varieties through interactive displays.
Farmers and agriculture students will be allowed in for free.
“Brisson, 38, the son of Burgundy winemakers, said his passion for cheese developed as a boy. ‘My father would take me to the cheesemonger every Sunday after Mass.’ …
“After studying at the National Dairy Industries School, Brisson set up Paroles de Fromagers to run courses in cheesemaking for the public and training for professionals.
“He chose to locate the museum, which has been a decade in the planning, in Paris to appeal to the French and tourists and to avoid regional rivalries. A plaque reminds visitors of General de Gaulle’s aphorism: ‘How can one govern a country where there are 258 varieties of cheese?’ …
“Brisson said: ‘When I moved to Paris I realized there were lots of places promoting wine, its culture and how it is made and lots of shops selling cheese, but nothing showing people how it is made.’
“He has recruited half a dozen cheesemakers to help visitors understand the art of producing different varieties from live milk, including the role of bacteria, and the animals and the land on which they graze. …
“Agathe de Saint-Exupéry will be one of the experts explaining the process, including how makers ‘read’ the milk and how small details can affect the final product.
“ ‘It’s a very individual process that depends on so many things, even the humor of the animals whose milk is being used. You can make the same good cheese every day, and every day it will taste different. It just cannot be done industrially,’ she said.
“Guillaume Gaubert, a cheesemaker, said the aim was also to remind the French – particularly those living in towns and cities – of their traditional links with the terroir, an untranslatable concept that covers not only the soil, environment and human interactions with it, but a sense of history and geography, and which is a cornerstone of French gastronomy. …
“France has 56 official cheese appellations – registered regional varieties – which is nine more than Italy and more than three times the number in the UK. … The Campagne de France, a cooperative of milk producers, estimates there could be as many as 1,500 different varieties, not including those produced at home in small quantities. …
“Brisson said the museum would be a ‘little window’ on country life in the heart of the capital.
“ ‘My dream is that in 20 years’ time someone will say they decided to become a cheesemaker after visiting the museum.’ ”
More at the Guardian, here.
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