September 27, 2004
Les Petites Horreurs de Cécile
Cécile's Little Horrors. What a fantastic movie or book title this would make.
So far though, it is merely a sign in the window of a cheese store in Bergerac (Périgord), where we bought our tray of Cabécous. Handwritten on a thin circle of wood taken from the bottom of a cheese box, it is here to introduce a selection of extra extra dry -- and I do mean extra extra dry -- goat cheese ("séchons de chèvre") of various origins.
A little freak show in its own right, a hodgepodge of brittle cheese flints, in camouflage tints of grey, blue, orange and white. Oh-so-touching in their utter lack of vanity, and the humourous way in which they are presented.
Humor. I like that in a cheese store. I also like that they have enough respect for their products not to throw out perfectly good pieces of goat cheese, just because they're ugly and extra-dry. Ugly and extra-dry? Sharp and brittle? Some people will love them all the same, and welcome them wholeheartedly into their homes and mouths!
Sure, it's also a very clever marketing scheme. But I like that in a cheese store too!
Crèmerie Cyrano
12 Marché Couvert
24100 Bergerac
05 53 57 11 47
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My favorite example of "cheese store humor" is the existence of a shop in Melbourne, Australia named (much to the consternation of local churchmen), "Oh What a Friend We Have in Cheeses."
But did you buy any? Eat any?
Wow, they look like pebbles! I can only imagine the tartness.
are those REALLY 22 euros/kilo? That seems like a lot.
Robert/Cheesy - Thanks for the giggle, that's one cheese store owner I'd like to meet!
Alisa - Nope, we didn't buy any. I would have just for the fun of it, but neither one of us likes extra-dry goat cheese that much!
Margaret - Yes, that's the price. I wondered about it too, but that's roughly half price compared to "regular" goat cheese purchased at a cheese store. More importantly, the water content here is almost nil, so it's one kilo of purely dry cheese. That amounts to quite many of these pieces!
would Cyrano de partake of these morsels? He could easily get them past his nose and at times we all get nitty, like before a duel, but I would like to think he'd turn his nose upwards at this.
It doesn't look that horrible to me... :)