(18) Perspective, perspective, does my mug look like perspective?

The title is derived from a famous French film of 1938 called Hotel du nord; it is very famous, or was due to its age, because of its dialogue, and especially this quote. So, the subject is how you look at things, regarding cheese or around its world.

Depending of where you are looking from, you might buy one thing or not.

Recently, actually since the beginning of the year, new rules for importing food have been implemented by the British government following Brexit.

One way to look at it would be that they realised that with all the food available in shop, they needed to curb obesity in the country and reduced choice, at least for the last six months as well…

Another way to look at it would be to say that this is in retaliation for something that they did not like…

You could say as well that jobs were needed to be created for HM customs, and the government decided to create obstacle for small businesses in the same time closing the internal market thus benefiting British producers…

Another to think about it would be that maybe the government is dismayed by the lack of pollution and would much rather see products from afar than close by…

Or then, they just were so happy about Brexit that they decided that they needed to assert their authority.

All of that to say that for most things, it is all a question of where and how you look at them.

And then you have your background and history that intervene and make you think more in one way than another, your worries concentrate your mind and then you might be looking for trouble in a certain way when you need not to, or then you are very positive and think of which way you can benefit from what you are looking at.

It is all a question of point of view. The same applies to taste, at least for the most part.

Generalities on the taste of cheese Cheese is a natural result of milk conservation and transformation. However, when you eat cheese only the beneficial characteristics of the original milk can be detected. If you have a very fine and tuned palate you will be able to discern flower traces in certain cheese at certain time of the year and characterise other notes and flavours.

Seasonality is an important factor of quality of cheese. The mammal will experience different climatic conditions depending on the time of the year. The grass will be of different quality, with more or less flowers in the fields and the feed will bring other prominent character. The resulting milk will vary. Depending on location and the mammal, the cheese produced in spring is generally very good. Early autumn production is highly recommended as well.

Producers vary as well by their specific touch and the way they treat their animal. A happy and healthy animal will produce a milk of higher quality than a sad beast. Then there is the level of knowledge that the producer obtained through the years. This is important as it will affect the product through the year and will guarantee quality of fabrication and possibilities of good conservation and maturity.

Obviously, once the cheese has been made it needs to be matured. According to the usual customs related to a particular cheese this could be as short as a few days or as long as a few years. With this information you can judge that at a specific time of the year some cheeses will be ready at their peak and others not at their best.

This is all part of seasonality. On the other hand, you will need to know the style of the person maturing your cheese. On this aspect you can get mild cheese, pleasant for general consumption and easy to take care of, or you can get a more specialised and concentrated taste and texture research. However, it will not be to everybody’s taste. You will have to specify the nature of the product that you are selling in respect to your guest’s sensitivity. Interact with your guests, try to find out what kind of product they are accustomed to.

At that stage you will have to describe you cheeses. You will need to be able to know about taste. Obviously, it is better for you if you have knowledge of the general characteristics of the cheese that you have to talk about. On wine Quite a lot of research has been carried out on wine tastes and flavours. This is a good start to understand how food in general can be correctly described. On top of this research people have enjoyed wine and found easy and remarkable the yearly differences. From this they have spent time and fortune trying to make sense of it.

Therefore, a profession has been created. The sommeliers have evolved from this need. In turn it was only natural that they developed a mean to train themselves and establish a norm. They created a visual help in the form of the wheel of aroma. However, this is very good for their specific needs and does not encompass all possibilities related to food as this treat exclusively to odours, and specifically to those related to wine. Although it is very well made and thought of, it is only a good starting point for generalisation, or specification for that matter. On wine and cheese Obviously, the main difference between a wine and a cheese is that one is liquid and the other solid, at least in most cases. Relative to taste one has an aroma that is very important, for the other one it is not primordial. Both will procure pleasure, and both can be combined to create a harmony of flavour. To accord one with the other you have to understand both ideally. In my case I always trust a sommelier to help me, as they are able to describe the qualities of their wine and answer my questions about it. If you can recommend a wine to go with a specific cheese this is good, if you can recommend a wine to go with a typical selection of cheese, then this is clever of you. However, you will have to be able to describe the taste of the cheese at least.

On cheese As I like to think, cheese is an always changing entity. Its taste is generally the same but always ever so slightly different. I talked already about seasonality and atmospheric or climatic changes from week to week; difference in the mood of the animal; difference in the fauna that the animal encounters; difference even in the mood of the cheese maker. All of this makes for a very special product.

Description terms When describing cheese to guests you will need to refer to the basic tastes. However, you will need to qualify this as well and to express and expend this basic explanation. Vocabulary will help you, use it well and adequately:

Ø Meaty Ø Lactic Ø Floral Ø Pungeant Ø Mushroomy Ø Woody Ø Putrefaction smell (mostly to be avoided) Ø Milky Ø Creamy Ø Rich Ø Ashy taste Ø Herbal Ø Biscuity Ø Goaty Ø Stable smell Ø Piquant Ø Grass flavour

The better you present a product, the more chance you have to sell it. Remember that there is more than a few cheeses to sell and that all the stock needs to be sold at some stage. Some general rules apply to cheese. To present it in a good light associate milk characteristics to emphasise a fresh taste, terms related to wood will denote harshness or hardness, floral will be pleasant and innocent …

Wine and cheese: preconceptions and realities

The main association usually done with cheese in England is Port wine, then red wine. Unfortunately, it is not a very good match as one will try to be dominant and not complementary of the other. Have a taste of cheese and drink a bit of Port or red wine and you will be able to judge that there is a contest for primacy of taste. Now try with a medium sweet wine and you will see that the balance and harmony is present with a lot of different cheeses. When in a restaurant and enjoying diverse cheeses on a plate, you will be able to realise which wine that is the least aggressive. However, I recognise that it is difficult to sell sweet wine to some people at the end of a meal, especially after game, but it is the best, nonetheless.

Tasting has been done with Decanter magazine and I can vouch for the facts cited above. Do not use very sweet wine, or with a citrus dominance.

The problem arises as well with any condiment that you want to use with cheese obviously.

The Holy Trinity: a quest for balance and harmony

Cheese, wine, and bread, this is three, and this is one as well. This is called the Holy Trinity of the table. In France, in the 18th century, cheese used to be served after any fruit, or dessert for that matter. In 1815 a cheese, Brie de Meaux, was crowned “King of cheeses and first of the desserts”.

As for wine, accommodate the cheese but do not have something competing for primacy of taste. Try to find harmony and complementary.

A few facts about taste

“To loathe the taste, of sweetness, whereof a little

More than a little is by much too much”

(William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part 1)

The eastern civilisation believes in the five elements theory, cornerstone of Chinese philosophy. Following this, each sensation correspond to one of the five elements: water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. The five spices powder is an amalgam of the qualities of all of these and is often used in Chinese cuisine.

Most people distinguish between a thousand odours, perfumers and a few others can discern as many as ten thousands.

Menthol reacts with tongue’s nerves the same way that cold temperatures do, which explains why we like mint to refresh ourselves; Jalapeño or Tabasco interact in an opposite way, the same way as do pain and heat, creating a burning sensation.

The first bite is with the eye. The second is certainly with the ears, finger, and tongue.

If you change the colour of berry jam to orange, people will be sure that it is pineapple.

Wine studies have demonstrated that colour is paramount to the feeling of taste. More surprising is the role of sound. By changing the sound heard while eating, Dr Charles Spence of OxfordUniversity fooled volunteers into thinking that the consistency of the food was very different to reality.

Durian fruit (from the Durian tree of South-East Asia), has a nauseating smell but when ripe taste delicious and is widely used where it is available.

Rats are useful animal when it comes to smell. They are used to detect explosives.

Two persons can have the same sense of smell only if they are identical twins; otherwise everybody has a unique sense of smell. Dogs are able to detect non-identical twins.

Women are more likely to suffer from cacosmia. This is described as feeling ill from the smell of common environmental chemicals like paint or perfume.

Happiness is detectable by the sense of smell.

Astronauts lose progressively their sense of taste and smell. This is due to the fact that congestion occurs in the nose following lost of gravity resulting in increased capillary pressure in the nose. Consequently the sinuses tend to fill up with fluid giving a sensation of stuffiness similar to a head cold.

Women are able to detect the scent of fear.

However women can fool themselves by using fragrance containing musk in thinking this will attract male attention. As they are one thousand times more sensible to it than males, they will only achieve to be more attractive to other women of different sensibility.

A new weapon of the future US Army was developed by Pam Dalton of the Monell Institute, Philadelphia. This consists in a soup developing the foulest odour imaginable, resulting in making people sick with the feeling of throwing up. This is seen as a non-lethal weapon for urban warfare of the future with great potential.

People manipulation happened by odorising in a pleasant way a slot machine in Las Vegas. 45% more money was gambled on it when this was in effect.

Odour molecules are volatile; otherwise they would not be smelled. To be volatile they need to be small enough to be vaporised (less than 300 – 400 relative molecular mass).

In ancient history it was known that by smelling people you could tell if they were sick and where this was coming from or due of. Hippocrates was advocating to smell body odour to identify specific sickness.

In the 13th century the Arab poet Sheykh Moslehoddi Sadi described in prose the usual custom differentiating the two sexes:

“Essences of roses, fragrant aloes, paint, perfume and lust:

all these are ornaments of women.

Take a man; and his testicles are a sufficient ornament.”

To go back to my first point about Brexit, I need to clarify that I respect the choice of the British voters who democratically decided blindly to vote for it; even if that meant higher food price and less choice…

Anyway, this is all a question of pint of view, as long as you live long and prosper, why should you care about the people?

And remember, give life to your taste buds, and above all, enjoy real cheese.