Winner of the John Avery Award at the André Simon Awards 2024 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.
