Jeez Whiz

In earlier eras, serving exotic and foreign foods granted one status and distinction. To serve foods, fruits and flavors that traveled great distances to one’s table demonstrated that you had money and/or connection to provide courses of pride and unusual pleasure.

Today, new fashions are afoot. Serving foods with proven “patrimony” representing a deep, authentic experience of place, preferably local, grants the host crunchy hugs, cerebral salutes and soulful gratitude.

Battles are being waged to ensure the integrity of authentic foods especially when the food at issue carries the name of the place from whence it comes. To name it is to claim it, and cheesemakers are at the forefront of protecting their techniques and ingredients to ensure that what you buy IS, in fact, what it has long been.

Recently the cheese producers of traditional Camembert in Normandy France have formed the Committee for the Defense of Authentic Camembert to “preserve the mandatory use of raw milk in the production of AOC (Appellation d’Origiine Controllee) Camembert.”

Cheeses produced with pasteurized milk will not be able to sport the coveted AOC label.   Here’s the story: 

Of course, you’ll get kudos if you serve the AOC Camembert, but the hug you’ll get won’t be as crunchy as the ones you’ll receive if you were to serve a  farmstead chevre from within your area code.

Comments

[Napanite]

That's a really pretty goat, but I think both Cammembert, the most perfect of all cheeses, and its neighbor Brie are made from cow's milk. And I beg to differ, but the local chevre in my zip code is a dreadful concoction called Clifonia "jack", whose grim gooey consistancy is to ripe Camembert as paint thinner is to Veuves Cliquot Grand Dame.

A perfect meal of crusty bread, Camembert and Chablis, all examples of yeast interacting with harvest in perfect harmony. I wonder who invented the concept of using molds to leaven and season our food.