A little cheesy, some may feel, but Salut! thought it worth giving its morsel of Tomme de Savoie a quick bump back up the ladder to mark our first appearance at the Cold Mud food site for rather a long time ...
One of the delights of making an overnight stop when driving between the Channel ports and the south of France is the opportunity to sample regional cuisine, in particular Burgundy cuisine since that is invariably where we stay the night.
At the Auberge Bourguignonne in Beaune, not everyone's favourite town but I quite like it except when it's heaving, the highlight of dinner has always been the cheese trolley.
It is so full of wonderful specimens from Burgundy but also the rest of France that you could really make a pig of yourself. This rosbif often does.
It is a family business and the restaurant is staffed by people who know what they are talking about, so the descriptions of each of 20 or more cheeses is full and authoritative. My tastes have developed over the years and I am happy going for the stronger varieties, something with a bit of punch to go with what's left of our Burgundy wine.
I am content to chop and change a little with cheese. Livarot is decadent in its smelliness; a good roquefort or camembert invariably pleases and I will try morsels of less familiar offerings too, though I am not hugely fond of chèvre.
But if you asked me to name my favourite cheese, I'd retreat to the simplicity of Tomme de Savoie. The place mat comes from a restaurant discovered at a riding school just outside Carnoules, starting point of the historic train route we took a couple of weeks ago.
The man in charge was born in India - Pondicheri - but brought up by a Franco-Spanish couple in the Alps, so he knew all about Tomme de Savoie. And since we were his only customers - "Sunday is always slow" - he also had time to explain a little of his knowledge of cheese.
Since it is possible to accuse Tomme de Savoie of being bland, our guide to Savoie explained that the taste varies markedly from producer to producer.
So if I make the effort, I should be able to locate fuller-flavoured varieties than are usually found on supermarket shelves. Consider how much Cheddar changes, in texture and strength, and it's not hard to see why that should be the case.
Needless to say, I have also discovered that hard cheeses are much more fattening than soft. I'm afraid the calories will just have to be saved by some other means.
But I'd be interested in hearing about other people's experience of Tomme de Savoie, and also of their own favourite cheeses.
They need not be French.
After all, I did once hear one Englishman tell another in all seriousness, while waiting for boarding to commence at one of the ferry ports: "Good holiday, but you just cannot get a decent piece of cheese anywhere in France."
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