This will brie a gouda time.
France’s first cheese museum opened in Paris, right in time for the Olympic Games being held in the City of Light.
The Musée du Fromage is billed as “an educational and interactive space for discovering France’s cheesemaking heritage and regions,” according to its website.
Its founder, Pierre Brisson, created it with a purpose of keeping the art of cheesemaking alive in France, which boasts 56 regional varieties made from cow, sheep and goat milk.
“It’s not an easy job, but a marvelous one, and there is a real risk that it could disappear,” he told The Guardian. “I wanted to do something so people understand at what point there is an ancestral savoir faire in making cheese.”
“We hear a lot about wines and how they are made and the subtleties of taste and how they are produced and nothing about cheese. Although people like eating it and the demand for cheese is still high, fewer youngsters want to make a career of it.”
The savory museum, where cheese is made daily, is housed in a 17th-century stone building on Île Saint-Louis, a short walk from Notre Dame Cathedral.
Entry costs about $21.75 for adults, and children 11 and younger get in for $11.96. Admission is free for farmers and agriculture students.
With the admission price, guests can view a cheese-making demonstration, participate in a tasting and learn the history of cheese through the museum’s interactive displays.
Cheese guides are also available to provide information on things like the history of cheese and its production. Courses and workshops are also offered.
One of the museum’s cheese experts, Agathe de Saint-Exupéry, explained the nuisances in the production of cheese, which is a close to $10 billion dollar industry in the country.
“It’s a very individual process that depends on so many things, even the humor of the animals whose milk is being used. You can make the same good cheese every day, and every day it will taste different. It just cannot be done industrially,” she told the outlet.
Brisson, 38, whose parents are winemakers, planned the museum for a decade, and said his passion for cheese started when he was young.
“My father would take me to the cheesemonger every Sunday after mass; I was at the height of the display and would look at all the marvelous cheeses in front of my eyes,” he told the outlet.
“I became fascinated by where they came from and how they were made.”
However, once he moved to Paris, he realized the lack of cheese education in the city, which he is working to change.
“I realized there were lots of places promoting wine, its culture and how it is made and lots of shops selling cheese, but nothing showing people how it is made,” he told the outlet.
“My dream is that in 20 years’ time, someone will say they decided to become a cheesemaker after visiting the museum.”
