Its history is as old as humanity itself. Ever since the time man engaged in agriculture and stock-breading and found that the animal milk can be used as food.

Today cheese is among the finest foods in the world and is served at the most elegant places. Its variety is great, especially in taste – light or buttery, neutral, rich, velvet (cream-like), piquant, sharp, salty, delicate… Its structure can be so hard that it breaks in flakes, but also so soft – almost liquid – that one has to eat it with a spoon. In Europe alone there are over 1000 cheese sorts. Classifying them is an uneasy task, depending on different criteria. According to the basic types of milk, cheese is divided in cow’s, sheep’s, goat’s and buffalo-cow’s. Mare’s and camel’s cheese are more exotic. There is also vegetarian cheese made of vegetable oils and soya.

The most famous cheese producing countries are France, Italy, Switzerland and England.

Manners

• Cut some of 2 or 3 types of cheese and put it in your plate. Start from the softest and continue with the harder ones.
• The soft cheese is lighter and less caloric. Eat it with a knife only – never use a fork.
• Put a piece on a morsel of bread but never spread it.
• Eat the blue cheese with a knife because it has a creamy texture.
• Use a knife and a fork for the hard cheese; the bread is always in morsels.
• Crumble the Parmigiano reggiano and eat it with your fingers. As it is the hardest cheese you should eat it last.

Cheese and Wine

It is not easy to find the winning combination. The harmonisation is mostly a matter of taste. The wine should be mild, young and sweet for the saltiest types of cheese, and sour for the smelly ones in order to change and freshen the taste in the mouth. Light, fragrant white and mild red wines go well with fresh cheese and goat’s cheese.The smelly types go well with Gevurztraminer – a semi-dry wine from Elzas.

With the cheese the different cultures eat walnuts, figs, grapes, celery, watermelon, etc. The vegetables help the digestion but connoisseurs eat the cheese neat.