Charles de Gaulle famously said it was impossible to govern a country with 246 different
cheeses. And perhaps he was right. Every French cheese carries an essence of the place where
it's made - its history identity and landscape. Sometimes that's a physical thing as the hard
texture of Comté echoes its mountainous home in the Jura. Other times it's about power and
politics - Brie swelling to royal dimensions due to its proximity to the French court or
Camembert gaining national status after being supplied in patriotic boxes to First World War
soldiers. In A Cheesemonger's Tour de France Ned Palmer wends his way around the country's
regions meeting the remarkable cheesemongers who carry the torch for France's oldest and most
treasured traditions. As he explains the mysteries of terroir and why each of those different
fromages taste as they do he shows that a French cheeseboard offers genuine insights into la
Belle République.
