'A Cheesemonger's Tour de France' in Ned's own words

I like an on the nose title. My first book was called A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles, and told the story of Britain and Ireland through the medium of cheese. This one is called A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France, and that is exactly what it is. Every cheese is a product of the place it comes from, the people who make it, and the times when it was first made. So by exploring a country’s cheeses you are exploring that country itself - which is particularly appropriate for a country as famous for its cheeses as France.

In this book you really are eating your way around the country; there are eleven chapters, each chapter covers a region and each region is brought to you by a signature cheese - except Brittany, which I refer to as The Land of Many Cheeses, for reasons that will become clear when you buy my book along with Mons’ delectable cheese hamper. We start near Paris, in Seine et Marne, brought to you by the gigantic, golden-hued, richly creamy Brie de Meaux, then east to Alsace whose long-disputed identity is expressed by the divisively odiferous Munster, and on in a great circle around the Hexagon - as mainland France is known to its inhabitants - until we get back up to Normandy and one of France’s most beloved cheeses, Camembert.

As you can imagine, doing the research for A Cheesemonger’s Tour was a lot of fun. Visiting cheesemakers is always a huge pleasure, they are open-hearted, nerdily knowledgeable, often eccentric and invariably fascinating. I also tried the wines and local cuisines of the regions I went to - this is called ‘research’ by the way, and is tax-deductible - and got to see more of the country in a year than I ever have in the last fifty odd. I hope I managed to convey even some of the joyfulness of those experiences.

The following text is a short reflection by Ned Palmer on his latest book - A Cheesemonger's Tour de France.

I should declare an interest at this point, because Jon Thrupp and Jane Hastings, who run Mons UK are old pals and colleagues of mine. We met when we were all working at the great British cheesemonger Neal’s Yard Dairy. I tell you this because Mons, in its original formation in France as Mons Fromagers-Affineurs, features a fair bit in this book, in the persons of Hervé and Laurent Mons, whose father Hubert set up the business in the 1960s, and Laurent’s son Jules who is currently picking up the torch. They introduced me to many of the producers I visited, and invited me along on a trip to meet producers in Provence - a particularly marvellous experience. Their part in the story is much more than that though. For over sixty years in France and more recently here in the UK Mons have tirelessly championed and supported the cause of French traditional cheese. With all that history comes a wealth of knowledge of the science and art of cheesemaking and ripening (affinage in French) which I raided shamelessly for the book and for my continuing cheese tastings.

There are many wonderful cheese shops in Britain, and Mons is up there among the greatest. You can buy almost all of the cheeses I mention in A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France at their stalls at Borough Market and Spa Terminus in Bermondsey, or at their lovely shop in Dulwich. Except for the many new-wave cheeses of Brittany, which haven’t made it over here yet. For those you’ll have to go to the source, which will be no hardship.