Formage! I Love the Cheese!

"Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays qui a deux cent quarante-six variétés de fromage?"

("How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?")

- Charles de Gualle -

Marché Bastille is just steps from my apartment.  It's open on Thursday from 7:00 a.m. until 2.30 p.m. and on Sunday from 7:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.  On Sunday it's big and crowded, filled with French locals, expats, and tourists, but on Thursday it is smaller and quiet. I try to go on both days for fruit, vegetables, household supplies, and flowers.  I shop around for all of these things, often going to the stand that is least busy, although I'm sure that there is a reason that some stands have crowds. 

The one vendor who I am loyal to is the nice woman selling cheese at La Ferme de Savoie!

She is so patient and always smiles when she helps me.  She doesn't seem at all bothered that there may be a line behind me, as I point at the cheese I want, and trip over my French.    

She has a great variety of cheese, plus eggs and dairy products.  I have three favorites:

Morbier au Lait Cru

Morbier is an "au lait", or raw milk cheese. That isn't mold you see running through it, it's ash. I like it.  It's soft in the center, and has a mild aroma and taste.

P'tit Basque

This cheese comes from the Basque region in the Pyrenees Mountain range between France and Spain.
It's a relatively new cheese, but is made in the traditional method that local shepherds have used in the past.  It's a mild, hard cheese, that is available in the U.S.

Roquefort Papillon

This is a well-known brand from the South of France.  Like Champagne from the Champagne region, only the Rocquefort produced in the area of Rocquefort-sur-Soulzon can be called Roquefort.

It's a sheep cheese with blue mold added to give it that delicious taste. I know not everyone likes it, but I love spreading the moist, aromatic cheese on a baguette.

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And there are still so many others to try! Even more now than the 246 that de Gaulle mentioned.