Book Review – Cheese: Selecting, Tasting, and Serving the World’s Finest (Alix Baboin-Jaubert)

May 27th, 2009 | Author: Mark

I picked up this tasty looking morsel at my local public library. The only thing that I forgot to do before checking it out was to skim through it. Because even though Cheese: Selecting, Tasting, and Serving the World’s Finest was translated in English, it’s 100% French.

I was drawn to this book for two primary reasons. The first is pretty obvious – I like cheese. The second, was the delicious looking cover of some brie-type cheeses and a loaf of crunchy rye bread, just begging to be eaten. As I was contemplating stopping at the store and trying to mimic what was being displayed on this book’s cover, I should have been busy flipping through it. When I got home and started flipping through the pages, I immediately noticed that this book was a guide to primarily French cheeses…more specifically, all of the wonderful cheeses that are made in or around Burgundy, France. There is, however, some brief mention given to cheeses made outside of France, but it’s really only meant to demonstrate the vast production differences between France and the other cheese producing countries in Europe. France is by far the number one cheese producer in the world. If you’re looking for any honorable mention to be given to Velveeta or any US-grade cheeses, you’re not going to find it here. Mr. Jaubert is a French journalist who works for a variety of different French cooking magazines, and this book is meant more as a European course in fine cheeses.

Nonetheless, I did find this book fascinating. Before picking it up, I had no clue that so many different cheeses were being made in Burgundy. It also introduced me to a lot of cheeses that I had personally never heard of. Cheese: Selecting, Tasting, and Serving the World’s Finest does showcase over 365 varieties of European made cheeses, along with suggestions and tips on how to pair them with different wines and serving them to guests. But, if you live in the United States like me, you’ll probably never have an opportunity to taste most of these different cheeses unless you’re planning a trip to France, or another destination in Europe. I did, however, learn two tidbits and one new word.

Tidbit 1: There are three kinds of milk;

Tidbit 2: There are eight major cheese families;

My new vocabulary word, Fromage: “Cheese-man”, to you and I.

And that, my cheese-head friends, was pretty cool and interesting, even though most of this book just went over my head.