Here's to a Cheesey 2011!

Another year gone, and a new one to face. Here are some of my cheesy thoughts and cheese resolutions for the year:

I will eat more goat cheese. Not only because it's lower in fat than other cheeses but there are now, on the market, so many excellent choices. And like any good cheese, a little goes a long way. Hmm... goat cheese omelette... some chevre on my multigrain bagel... some fresh feta on my pasta with fresh basil... mmm... the possibilities.

I will demand more Raclette! Watching the fat intake the majority of the time is well and good, but darn it, I'm going to enjoy myself and eat raclette a few more times than just during Christmas and New Years. Raclette can, in fact, be a very healthy meal-- all those roasted veggies, some meat or even fish and a modest amount of cheese-- I might even try to grill tofu.

More importantly, though, is my insistence on wanting to enjoy simple pleasures this year with people that mean the most to me, without the pressure of dazzling others with all I know and how creative I can be. Raclette grilling allows for this. Anyone can boil potatoes; anyone can buy deli meat, anyone can slice cheese and wash vegetables. But few of us take the time to enjoy one another. And somehow, this rather simple combination of ingredients results in something intangibly good and indeed healthy for us.

I will have at least 3 kinds of cheese in my refrigerator at all times (and I don't mean the Parmigianno Reggiano I need for just cooking). This year, I plan to venture out of my normal confines of Camembert, Humboldt Fog and Monterey Jack and set my sights on the likes of a Mahon of Spain, Chimay of Belgium, Bijou from Vermont... and the many more I'm increasingly seeing on display. For these special cheeses, I will reserve for my afternoon tea time and for all that stop by and visit, for this year will be a year of sharing and extending to others what good comes our way.

Great expectations, indeed... but that's really the only way to live... with thoughts of greatness and achieving something beyond just ourselves.

French Cheeses Face Extinction

Paulette Marmottan is one of the remaining few farmstead cheesemakers in France, a nation known and defined by their love and consumption of cheese. She, her husband and son manage the 365 day-to-day laborious operations of a small farm in the French Alps, La Savinaz, where 33,000 pounds of persille de Tignes are crafted from 30 cows and 80 goats a year.

Though the exact number of cheeses proudly produced by the French used to number in the thousands, today, many of the traditional handmade varieties, prized throughout the history of France, are no longer being made. In fact, out of the 100 or so raw cheeses in production 3 disappear every year, this due primarily to economic reasons. The ones that remain are the few that can still command a sustainable price for production by discriminating cheese consumers.

"The paradox is that we're known as the land of cheese yet we're losing a increasing number," says Veronique Richez-LeRouge, president of the Association Fromages de Terroirs, a nation who fetishously has joked that they have a different cheese for every day of the year. Twentieth century French politician and war strategist, Charles de Gaulle is quoted for saying, "How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?"

As is the case with 52 year old Paulette Marmottan, their backbreaking artisan craft is one passed down from generation to generation. Their methods combined with the unique terroir of the region yield distinctive cheeses, their secrets kept within the confines of the family alone. And when these families get too old to continue and the next generation decides they don't want to be farmers, these traditions die out and the cheeses become extinct. Traditional farmstead creations give way to industrialized companies and processed products.

In the United States, however, a return to pioneer living, a reverence for a simpler time and way of life is giving way and farmstead and artisan cheesemaking is on a rapid rise. Perhaps, this is France's destiny as well. As a nation that still consumes vast amounts of cheese, second only to Greece in the EU, a self-awareness eventually emerges. Whether or not France can bring about a rebirth in their cheesemaking traditions, only time will tell. (Sources: The Washington Times.com, The Huffington Post.com, Brainy Quotes.com)

Cheese: Part of the Magic Equation for Longevity

Could eating cheese extend your life? According to New York Times best-selling author, Dan Buettner, the answer is yes.

Avid traveler and health-nut, Buettner has discovered through his bicycling adventures that certain cultures have a higher population of centenarians. In his book, "The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest",  he found that Sardinia, an island off the coast of Italy, was one of those longer-lived people groups.

Their diet consisting primarily of whole grain breads, fruits and vegetables, nuts, red wine, and cheese may be factors extending the lifespan of Sardinians by six years, according to Buettner.

Contrary to western culture, meat is rather once-in-a-week celebration than an essential component to the daily diet. Instead protein sources come from nuts, fava beans and cheese, more specifically, a grass-fed sheep's milk Pecorino Sardo, which is said to be high in heart-favorable Omega-3 fatty acids.

A very dark red wine, replete with neutralizing polyphenols, also accompanies meals which has the dual purpose of cleaning out the arteries.

This combination of fermented foods and fresh, natural, un-handled food seems to work as the magic formula making Sardinia one of the longest-lived communities in the world.

This, of course, is not a new discovery. Saint Benedict started eating this way as far back as 530 AD. Highly educated, and perhaps enlightened, Benedict escaped the tyranny of a privileged life in search of a more simple, meaningful way of living and thus, started what is known today as western monasticism.

St. Benedict and his monks sharing a meal

I love this painting I stumbled upon at Gherkins and Tomatoes.

Simple foods with occasional glitz; a basic diet with high quality cheese and other foods near their source, these are the makings of a healthy long life.

4th Annual Artisan Cheese Festival in California's Wine Country

Today marks the end of the 4th Annual California Artisan Cheese Festival held in rural Petaluma, California smack dab in the heart of winemaking county.

"Spring Hill Jersey Cheese, Cowgirl Creamery, Marin French Cheese Company and Bellwether Farms are a few of the many cheesemakers in southern Sonoma and northern Marin counties — helping to make Petaluma the prime location for the California Artisan Cheese Festival." (see full article)

Artisan cheese is gaining a renewed appreciation, running parallel to the Slow Food movement, where regional and traditional methods of farming and production are encouraged. Handcraftsmenship, rather than mass industrial production, with a reverence for a more basic way of living and eating has gained increasing momentum especially in the last decade.

The Coming Out of American Cheese - The 6th Annual Oregon Cheese Festival

There's been an explosion of interest in artisan and farmstead cheeses in the United States as demonstrated in Oregon's 6th Annual Cheese Festival hosted by the historic Rogue Creamery on March 20, 2010.



Typically, Wisconsin and Vermont have been known as the "cheese states" but a whiff is in the air, a new wind of appreciation for cheese in the United States has resulted in many new creameries going online. American cheese is having a coming out of sorts, keeping in stride with their more senior European counterparts.

This was also confirmed in the World Cheese Championships that just took place on March 18, 2010 where 2,300 cheeses were judged by an international panel of judges. Out of 79 categories, New York took 6 gold medals, Idaho took 5, California 4, Vermont 3, Georgia and Pennsylvannia 2, and Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, New Jersey, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon and South Carolina took home 1 gold medal. An astonishing 21 gold medals were awarded to Wisconsin, as JSOnline reports. The world cheese champion for 2010 though, still goes to Switzerland this year. (Source)