Emily in France 🇫🇷 Greetings from Camembert!
Tales from a ripe land
Last Friday, I took a field trip with a small team from NBC News to help respond to the rumor that Camembert is disappearing.
As is often the case, the headlines have been heavily exaggerated for clickbait. That said, there is some truth to the assertion that Camembert as many know it is indeed disappearing… the iteration found in supermarkets, that is. This is due to over-reliance on lab-grown strains of the Penicillium fungus that give Camembert and Brie their downy white rinds, which have been cloned to the point of no longer being capable of reproducing on their own. (Kind of like turkeys bred for the American taste for breast meat.)
Our reporting, however, led us to encounter not one but two local cheesemakers whose Camembert shows no signs of fading, thanks to the ancestral methods of fermentation on which they rely. Both were happy to explain their work to us – and both, it keeping true to the tradition of Marie Harel, lauded as the inventor of the bloomy-rinded cheese, were women.
While Harel’s actual role is up for some debate, as I’m discovering as I devour Pierre Boisard's ultra-readable Le camembert: Mythe national, this cheese is indeed emblematic of France, and discovering the artisans ensuring we’ll be able to continue enjoying this stinky, footy, cabbagey delicacy for years to come was pretty much a dream come true.
Check out the results this Friday on NBC!
In the meantime, if you're hungering for even more cheese nerdiness and you happen to be in Paris next Wednesday, I’m hosting a workshop all about cheese with WICE! Spaces are limited, so sign up while you still can.
Cheese of the Week
Bloomy-rinded Camembert originally hails from Normandy, where it was ostensibly invented by local Marie Harel after a priest fleeing the French Revolution - and certain decapitation – gave her the recipe for Brie in exchange for her kindness in hiding him from his pursuers. Made with the rich milk of local Normande cows, a Camembert has a bit more punch than its Parisian cousin, epitomized by its nickname of claquos, the slapper.
To discover more of my favorite cheeses, be sure to follow me on Instagram @emily_in_france, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and tune into the Terroir Podcast, where Caroline Conner and I delve into France's cheese, wine, and more one region at a time.
What I’m Eating
Places that don’t take reservations often make me nervous – probably because I hate waiting in line for food. But I’d gladly wait for a table at Le Richer, a 9th arrondissement restaurant with a short, seasonal menu of delicious dishes from Chef Charles Compagnon of Le 52 and l’Office. More on the blog.
What I’m Doing
1. Our next TERRE/MER retreat is coming up April 11 to 14 – and we’ve only got one more spot! Book now to snag it and join us for cooking, ceramics, and yoga overlooking the Mediterranean.
2. Signups for the next edition of the Nantes Writers’ Workshop June 24 to 28 are open, and in a similar vein… we’ve only got one more spot! Sign up now to grab it, and in the meantime, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to keep those creative juices a-flowing.
What I’m Saying
Baguette may seem like France's most emblematic loaf, but country bread tells the story of France's relationship with bread far more aptly. To trace that history, Apollonia Poilâne, the third-generation owner of Paris' Poilâne bakery, is joining me on Navigating the French on this episode all about pain de campagne.
Where I’m Going
1. To dine at the top of the Eiffel Tower, at the Jules Verne, which recently earned its second Michelin star. (Pinch me!)
2. To the Coulommiers Cheese Fair. (Pinch me again!!)
3. To Au Père Tranquille, one of the oldie-but-a-goodie cafés still lining the former market area of Les Halles, to do some serious writing. (About cheese, bien sûr.)
What I'm Writing
1. France is currently home to 46 AOP cheeses, but soon it may count 47. Producers of Mothais-sur-Feuille, a goat cheese hailing from Poitou-Charentes, aka the French cradle of chèvre, have applied for their very own appellation. If all goes well, France will welcome its newest AOP cheese in early March, just in time for goat cheese season to commence. For My French Life.
2. As part of Chicago’s most famous steak dynasty, Amy Morton knows what she’s talking about. She's sharing her guide to cooking a steakhouse-level dinner at home with me for InsideHook.
3. From the archives: This is not the first time Camembert's future has seemed under threat, as I reported for the BBC in 2018.
What I'm Reading
1. Matt Haig’s How to Stop Time began with a cool concept: the existence of people who age at a much slower rate than the rest of us. I loved the way it embraced and inhabited the different periods it explored, and as always, Haig is masterful in creating a magic system that feels deeply explored and clearly delineated. That said, I didn’t love this book quite as much as The Midnight Library, though I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe the characters didn’t feel as fully lived-in, or maybe I was craving more of those inevitable “aha!” Moments instead of being spoon-fed my realizations. I do love the moments when he zooms out to offer universality to his specificities, which never feels overwrought.
2. This story about mastering homemade croque monsieur – which was written following a shoot I helped to fix for Milk Street. In Milk Street.
3. This exploration of the differences between the Marie-Antoinette of lore and the far more empathetic, sympathetic reality. In the Feminist Food Journal.
A bientôt !