(57) Countdown …

Quite a few things happened since my last blog post. Not much in the world, or at least in the dramatic as everything is important in the personal.

There has been a very good commemoration of the terrorist attacks of November 13^th which happened in Paris ten years ago. One thing that I have noticed in this occasion was that the speeches were well written in French, with almost no English even if many songs were in this language with subtitles on the screen. This was one of my biggest shocks when I came back to France, the amount of English used by many people in everyday situations, and notably on national television. This was certainly not the case thirty-five years ago as the French language was mostly celebrated, and the crown jewels better guarded!

I did ask one question last time, and I kind of do again below.

Which traditional French cheese have been approved by NASA?

And the answer is: Picodon, which went to space abroad the Columbia shuttle in 1996.

A selection of differently matured Picodons

I have been craving a good mature goat cheese for a few months now, as where I am in France is more well known for its cow’s milk cheeses, the special goat’s milk cheeses made go almost straight to the traditional distribution, the other are not matured for my taste. I will manage to get some in the short future I am sure.

There are still two things which are lasting from my move from England to France, one is the international movers that I employed (Legend Removals) back in June / July and have still not reimbursed me from the computer screen which was lost by them. They are definitely untrustworthy, bordering on the illicit and fraudulent conduct. The second is a bit more recent and concern the renewal of my website (https://www.cheesefromage.com/), where I only blog. I realised that I was charge a fortune for blogging, and I tried to stop the automatic renewal without success. I fought for my rights, but fighting against a machine is always difficult and I decided to try but went for the extra year. It remains that for five years of usage I had been very badly advised, and the total cost is just below a thousand pounds, really stupid on my part! Of course, I would not recommend anybody to use WIX, your personal choices and preferences are difficult to locate to say the least. It is part of a learning curve, and the transmission of knowledge is important, so do not use WIX.

And then I had contacted the NHS in September, with the knowledge that it would take eight weeks as indicated by the French general consulate in the UK. So, last week I called them again to inquire about my file. They informed me that they are in the process of dealing with my case but the delay for treating the case is about forty (40) weeks, or three trimesters.

All that I can say is that I am well in my little part of France with the mountains in the backdrop and the snow to come very soon. The temperatures have been quite high so far, and thank you Mr Trump, climate change is here to stay and definitely exist. This made me think, with the announcement of the new COP that it is well and true that the developed nations should pay for reparations due to climate change, that it is not fair that Europe should have so many economic migrants while we are paying for the re-construction of the nations that they are from. I do think that it would be best if they build up their nations with all their human resources rather than send their non cooperative members to us. It is not like that that you build a nation with democracy.

The main difference between England and France, is the level of assistance from the state. One is liberal, due to Mrs Thatcher who managed to liberate funds by selling most of the state-controlled assets (including primordial assets like water companies…) in order to get her country more competitive and resilient. The result is that citizens at the bottom have to fend for themselves mostly with a very minimum to live, that when private utility companies have trouble, it is all of the country who has to pay to make it right again, and that there is a true latent laissez-faire for the more well off.

On the other side of the Channel, in France, the state has developed from the time when I left into a welfare system that is crippling the nation and encouraging people to do the less possible and to blame the companies that employ them. In truth, it is very difficult for companies to progress when their employees have so much protection, which is mostly good do not misunderstand me, but it would be better maybe to have incentives to grow. And then you have the politicians, who are encouraging this state of affairs in order to get votes and are happily making the country have a recurrent deficit in the process. When I was young, the communist party was at about ten percent of the electoral vote and going down, and this perdured for quite some time. Now, the same ideology is rebounding, some with a different name but from the same mental, and on the other side you have a far right party which have been grown from a supporter of Petain.

On both sides there is space to do thigs better, but when the electorate have been made to believe in a certain system, it is difficult to make them see the light. Even more so when people complain about many things but do the opposite of what they are saying only because they benefit financially in the short term. The recent example is the online platforms that sell cheap Chinese stuff. Everybody know that they do not really care what they are selling, only that they are here to sell to the western world as many goods as possible, and mostly these are not conform to the local legislature of safety and health care. This was made in order to concurrence a certain American company, and then to make the western world incapable of living without their Chinese suppliers. Even tough these Chinese companies sell some very litigious goods, and many of them completely illegal, people still buy their goods as it is cheap and thus contradict their own stated intentions of living comfortably in a good country in the west.

But in France, in Spain, in Italy, in Switzerland, in Germany, in Netherland, and some in the UK, make some excellent cheeses mostly in the traditional sense. And THIS IS GOOD. This is good for the taste, this is good for the safeguard of the culture, this is good for the environment on so may levels, and this is good for the local economy, of course stupid!

Many people would object to the term traditional and find ways to criticise what they perceive as traditional. And I can understand them, but no man is a world in himself, and time is always moving, so yesterday’s traditional has been modernised to respect the traditions and be respectful of the modern health and safety standards, who would complain about that? As long as you do not transform the product into something bland and inconsistent with its original, and that you do it with good and natural ingredients, you should have a good product that will satisfy your palate and purse as well. But the thing is, not many people are interested to know really how cheese is made. And this could be a problem potentially, as if they chose to know then they will understand that it is so good for everybody.

As I said before, the other advantage of cheese is that there are so many different kind and shape, without talking about consistency and smell of course and the milk used to make them. With the advantage of cheese being made in so many countries, there are many different customs associated with the eating of cheese. Like in Italy where they cook with cheese mainly, in France where we have a feast of the senses with many cheeses on a board, in Spain where it varies from area to area but cheese is celebrated with small quantities consumed in different forms, and in the UK where it is a commodity appreciated depending on the consumer’s upbringing and buying power.

As a food, cheese can be appreciated by everybody, more or less depending on the ability of the body to ingest dairy and the level of inquisitiveness and taste development of the person. And then there is the question of money, so, a rich person could buy some very expensive cheese without enjoying it better than an average human doted of a good sense of taste…

And of course, there is the question of nutrition, and winter is quite propice to a good, melted cheese with some bread and wine, some sausage or dried meat with a few choice potatoes, carrots, or even broccoli. It is up to you and your preference in how you prefer to enjoy cheese, but it is even better with some good traditional raw milk cheese.

So, open your palate and mind, and let’s celebrate quality cheeses.

P.S.: I still have my website running (https://www.cheesefromage.com/), it is dedicated to help catering professional with the service of cheese. You will find other information as well, all relative to cheese, like taste, cheese serving, and descriptions of different products of high quality readily available throughout the world (or at least it should be). It will expire in October 2026.