5 Cheeses Any First Timer in Paris Should Try

France is home to 1,800 cheeses... so here's where to start

Recently, I was recording an episode of Navigating the French with none other than Paris’ cheese maven herself, Jennifer Greco, a cheese educator who offers phenomenal cheese tastings in Paris. I asked her which cheeses she would put on a cheese board for someone who was just beginning to discover French cheese. Of course, once I’d asked the question, I started thinking about how I myself would answer it… and here we are. (You’ll have to tune into the forthcoming episode to find out what she said!)

When I was thinking about the ideal cheese board for someone excited about trying cheese in Paris, a few things came to mind. I wanted cheeses that offered a variety of different flavors and textures. I wanted things with personality but nothing that would frighten someone who might be unfamiliar with the flavor profiles of French cheeses.

And of course, I wanted them to be delicious. That's a given.

So with no further ado… the cheeses.

1. Brie de Meaux

There is no cheese more perfect to get the ball rolling on a Parisian cheese board than Brie de Meaux, which, seeing as it hails from just east of the capital, is as local a cheese as one can get in Paris (with the exception of the Parisian cheeses produced by the handful of experimental Parisian cheesemakers, of which Pierre Coulon was the first). Of the seven cheeses one can ostensibly call Brie (along with Brie de Nangis, Brie de Provins, Brie de Montereau, Coulommiers, Brie de Melun, and Brie Noir), Brie de Meaux is perhaps the most emblematic of the lot… and yet it’s one you cannot find in the U.S. American law stipulates that raw milk cheeses must be aged over 60 days to be imported, and the AOP for Brie de Meaux prohibits pasteurization.

Flavor-wise, Brie de Meaux is not the punchiest of the family. It’s relatively mild-mannered and gooey with a slightly briny character I absolutely love. It has all of the mushroomy notes you’d expect from a member of the bloomy-rinded family but kicked up to 11. (That it marries perfectly with Champagne is just an added bonus.)