The nuances of cuisine provide lessons for all students studying the cultures of foreign languages, but French students are confronted by a particular challenge—the 400 distinct cheeses that the French consider fundamental to their national cuisine.
Students of the French Club could only take a small taste of numerous list in their cultural cheese tasting event.
French professor Martine Bell supplied the club with nine types of cheese ranging from different regions of France. According to Bell, cheese is a complex aspect of cuisine, comparable to wine.
The French notion of terroir explains that products like wine and cheese attribute their most subtle flavors to all the factors of the environment in which they grow, making a particular region’s, or even village’s, cheese distinct from another.
“The French take this very seriously,” Bell said. “You could say they are all crafted locally, so the local flavors come out in their products.”
The type of grass cows, goats or sheep consume affects the outcome of the flavor of the cheese.
With more than $100 of authentic cheese of French origin, the French Club and accompanying students tried the varieties that ranged from mild and creamy in flavor, to the pungent flavors of bleu cheese and the strong, barnyard flavor and smell of the original Brie.
“Real Brie is not like the soft [cream cheese] like that you find in the state,” Bell said. “This stuff has a very strong smell. I wrapped it in three bags so it wouldn’t stink up the break room fridge.”
Ben Hinton, graduate student in international students and secretary of the French Club, said cheese is a serious part of being French.
“President Charles deGaulle said, ‘How can I govern a country of 400 different cheeses,'” Hinton said. “It goes to show that people use cheese as a type of way to identify with who they are and where they come from. It’s not just food.”
Sally Rothwell , a junior in finance and international relations, studied in France last school year. She said cheese, and food overall, was an important part of French culture.
“People took the pleasure of eating fine food seriously,” Rothwell said. “It was great to be immersed in that and to also partake in the tasting.”
Fine cheese is catching on in the United States, but according to Bell, Americans are enjoying it in backwards fashion.
“In France, we finish our meal with some cheese,” Bell said. “We usually eat it after our entrée and right before dessert.”
According to Bell, if she were to serve cheese to friends as an appetizer before dinner, she would be dismissed as strange.
“It would just be considered weird,” Bell said. “People would really start to question you.”
The French Club will meet Nov. 16 in Withers 331. Although the club will not feature fine cheeses at their next event, Rhian Mayhew , junior in biological sciences, said anyone is free to join.
“We just want to celebrate and learn more about French culture in a non-academic, social setting,” Mayhew said.
