2/13/2006 12:17:00 PM|||Jenny|||

It was a Friday night and I had a choice. I could stay home and cook, or I could accept an invitation to meet a group of French cheesemakers on tour in the U.S. _ and to eat French cheese in San Francisco.

I love to cook, but since I am convinced that there is nothing more delicious than a hunk of smelly French cheese, I put away my pans and headed across the bridge.

Upon arrival, I followed my nose to the second floor, and into a room where tables were mounded with cheese. One cheese looked like a basketball cut in half, bits of hard parmesan-like cheese piled inside. Another was a wheel with a curious red rind.

More cheeses were cut into wedges and chunks, but my eyes focused on the giant hunks of seven different cheeses at each place setting. I do love cheese, but this appeared to be overkill.

Within minutes, the emcee tapped his wristwatch and requested all guests to sit. We sat. Farmers talked. People clapped. They talked more. I cared, but mostly I wanted to taste the cheeses on that plate. But still they talked. So I gave up and tasted on my own.

I dipped my fork into a creamy goat cheese with a wrinkly white rind called Le Chevrot. It was tame for a goat cheese, a great option for breakfast, I decided.

Slowly and methodically, I tasted the cheeses in order. Some were soft and spreadable, others just the right texture for grating on pasta, or slicing for sandwiches. As I worked my way around the plate, the cheeses became progressively more flavorful and more pungent.

The cheese-de-resistance came last, a Roquefort made with sheep's milk that was smooth in texture, gorgeous in color, and pungently delicious.

Besides enjoying some truly wonderful artisan cheeses, I learned some French cheese facts, like the reason why true Roquefort is so expensive. The cost is high because the U.S. charges 100 percent duty on the cheese because it is trademarked.

I also learned why French cheese does not taste a bit like California cheese. It's all about terroir. French cheese tastes like the grasses and flowers that carpet the hills and valleys, and even the molds that grow in France. French cheeses, the cheesemakers explain, vary quite a bit from season to season. Unlike so many American cheesemakers, the French welcome those variations.

It cannot be said that French cheese is better than California cheese. But it can be said that the French love their cheese more. The French celebrate cheese as a food that bears the delicious imprint of the land, the animals and the people who make it _ and they embrace it as a major food group.

The funniest thing about the evening was when we left. Upon departure, each guest was handed several pounds of cheese to enjoy. When we asked why, we were told that the French cheesemakers had overestimated their cheese needs _ by a few hundred pounds (hence the ridiculously generous hunks of cheese on our tasting plates.)

I, for one, was happy to lighten their load.

_ Jolene Thym

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