La France, la gastronomique capital du monde.

The subject of this blog addresses France as the capital of the art and science of food (gastronomy). If you did not know this as a fact, you know now. In addition, apparently Lyon is the gastronomic capital of France (according to many references on my google search engine), however I would have to disagree with this because then wouldn't that make Lyon the gastonomic capital of the entire world? and I will tell you that I have not had "the best" food here in Lyon... that was in Italy. ;) yea yea.

I am discussing this issue because France has really got there act together when it comes to cheese (fromage in french) and I haven't even discussed the wonderful chesses (besides the Raclette) that I have had here. To be honest, I can't even describe them all because there are so many! But believe me when I tell you that I am not even that big of a chesse fan in America, but here I am!

So different kinds of cheeses are produced all over this country and the names for the cheeses are taken after the region from where they come.. Some of you may have already known this, but Brie is a region as well as Camambert, Roquefort and Beaufort. I once tried Chevre (goat cheese) that had raisins in it... and another Chevre with chuncks of pepper, my goodness, it was the best flavored cheese of my life!! Chevre with honey is amazing as well!! mmmm.. There is this restaurant in Lyon called "l'epicerie" that sells specialty "tartines," which are basically pieces of toast (good toast from homemade bread, not like a loaf of wonder bread put in the toaster), and they put different cheeses, meats etc.. but the one that is my favorite is the tartine with melted chevre and honey.. SO AMAZING!!

The best part though is that my host mom made fondue last night, and to any of you who ever tried the fondue at the Nutcraker in Oakdale will know what Im talking about... her fondue was the best fondue that I have ever had. . . It beat the Nutcracker.. It had the same delicious strong flavor, but it wasn't as heavy as the Nutcraker and you could tell that it was made with real cheese and not processed Velveeta lol. It was so good!

I wish I could take some of the cheeses over to the states for my dad to try, cause he loooooves cheese, but I don't think I can do that unfortunately. =|

Fun Fact:
When the surrealist painter Salvador Dali came to New York for the first time he described it as being "A gothic Roquefort!" Here is a picture of Roquefort cheese:




Its a blue cheese, that apparently reminds Salvador Dali of New York lol I don't know why.. maybe because the gothic adjective denotes the tall and complex buildings in NY and the strong moldy cheese denotes diversity and strong personalities? lol I dont know. But I thought it was a fun fact.