French Cheese Festival: Fête des fromages Rocamadour
Every May the Fête des fromages takes place in Rocamadour, France. Fête des fromages means cheese festival and how can you not love a festival in honor of a lovely buttery cheese? There is an excellent write-up in English about the town of Rocamadour and their very special cheese if you are interested, the town is beautiful.
I could not think of a better way to celebrate the day than to invite Jennifer of Chez Loulou to guest post about this very special food.
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I have not met anyone who seems to love French cheese as much as Jennifer. She writes about them all the time in her own Fête du Fromage posts which I drool over. In fact, I believe she may have tried all of the 246 cheeses that Charles De Gaulle spoke of in his famous quote:
“How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?” (Charles De Gaulle, in “Les Mots du General”, 1962)
But Jennifer forces on and even when she visits Paris (she lives in the South of France) she drags her friends around searching out new and exciting cheeses to try. I think I am in love with her! So without further ado…Chez Loulou!
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Rocamadour and Chaource
My obsession with French cheese began about four years after we moved to France.
I've always been a fan of cheese but didn't really know much about the various types available in France other than those well-known ones that I felt comfortable asking for at the cheese counter.
One day I found myself at a Fromagerie in Narbonne, completely frozen with indecision.
I stood there scanning the display, recognizing the big-name cheeses; Cantal, Roquefort, Emmental, Brie, and Camembert, and noticed that surrounding the VIP cheeses were dozens of unfamiliar (to me) fromages in practically every shape and size. Some were soft, squishy, and snowy white, some were creamy yellow and crumbly, some were round, some were square, some were wrinkly, a lot were moldy, and all were incredibly delicious looking.
There were simply too many to choose from! I had absolutely no idea what to buy.
Right then and there I decided that I was going to get to know French cheese. Every single one of them. My Fête du Fromage project was born.
So here I am, three years later, and still happily obsessed. I've tasted over 170 French cheeses thus far and continue on my quest to taste them all.
The following is a list of five of my favorites that are easily found in North America.
Bleu d'Auvergne
Buttery and smoky tasting. A delicious bleu!
Comté
No wonder this one is a favorite here in France. Its distinctive nutty and caramelized flavor is so satisfying.
Brie de Nangis
Smooth and buttery and an absolutely delectable member of the Brie family.
Pouligny Saint-Pierre
This little pyramide is sublime!
Brin d'Amour or Fleur de Maquis
Seductive and soft on the inside. Spicy and herby on the outside.
These cheeses are all available at Murray's Cheese, fromages.com, and artisanalcheese.com.
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Yum! Thanks Jennifer. Also, if you have a Whole Foods or other gourmet grocery store around you can often find many of these cheeses there as well.
My favorites are Blue de Gex, Roquefort, and goat cheese of nearly every variety!
How about you? Do you have a favorite cheese – it doesn't have to be French.
Vive le fromage!
I’m drooling! My faves are definitely Camembert and Chèvre. Though, admittedly, I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t like.
@Pink, I know! I think there is a cheese for everyone, for me there are many!
Hi Andi,
The citation is with 365 cheeses: Comment diable voulez-vous gouverner un pays où l’on compte 365 sortes de fromages ?
Wikipedia says 246 but it is not true. As a French, you hear that citation dozens in times in school or at home.
In reality, we have more than 400 different cheeses.
My favorites are the one that you cook: reblochon and raclette.
Lydie
@Lydie, I knew that number was too low, I believe it is in the 400’s as well!
I love brie. I know there are different varieties of brie but I’m sorry to say that I’ve never been educated about them and so I just know I like brie in general. So buttery, creamy and awful for you!
I’m sort of picky about my cheeses, though–moldy and smelly cheeses just creep me out!
@Margo – don’t worry there is a cheese for everyone, if there are some you don’t like, there are others who will eat it for you…and vice versa!
I like comte and any type of blue cheese. I only had cheddar or velveeta (not really a cheese) before I came to France.
I haven’t tried all the cheeses there are in France…yet! I have many years of tasting to look forward to.
Thanks again for the opportunity to share a bit of my French life on your site. I hope this inspires your readers to try some new cheeses, either at home or when they come to France.
@Loulou, well if you have not tried them all you have certainly tried a lot! Thanks for sharing some of your favorites!
Comte is my favorite French cheese but I also like our own Quebec artisan cheeses which are delicious and stand up extremely well to to French cheeses.
@Jim, love Comte too, but now I am intrigued about your cheeses! Quebec is on my list of places that I must get to!
We just spent 10 weeks in France … and our fondest memories are of the cheese!! We tried so many different types, and we loved sampling the local varieties of soft cheese from the markets. We also paid a visit to the Roquefort Caves — and our favourite restaurant in Lyon, was called Fromagivore .. and so we’ve decided we’re no longer vegetarians, we’re converting to formagivorism!