Charles de Gaulle was once quoted as saying "How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?" The nation in question is France.
Not many of us have had a chance to try them all or can pretend to be familiar with the various categories and appellations.
The French AOC classification or Nomenclature of Controlled Origin
is "the denomination of a country, region, or locale used to designate a
product of the region and of which the quality and the characteristics
are exclusively or essentially derived from the geography".
Its European Twin is the AOP or Protected Origin Nomenclature which was created in 1992 along with the IGP or Geographic Protection Indicator, both intended to protect authentic cheeses from imitations.
According to What are the AOC and AOP? by Xavier, a cheese refiner where I gathered most of my facts, there are 156 AOP/IGP cheeses, coming from 13 European countries, of which 43 are French.
To complicate matters a bit, Xavier notes that the AOP cheeses correspond to the AOC cheeses in France, with the
exception of Banon, Mâconnais, and Tome des Bauges, who only benefit
from the AOC. On the other hand, Emmental de Savoie, French Emmental,
and Tomme de Savoie, which are not AOC, are protected by the IGP.
The 43 AOC cheeses are :
Abondance, Banon, Beaufort, Bleu d’Auvergne, Bleu de Gex- Haut Jura, Bleu des Causses, Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage, Brie de Meaux, Brie de Melun, Brocciu, Camembert de Normandie, Chabichou du Poitou, Chaource, Chavignol, Chevrotin, Comté, Epoisses, Fourme d’Ambert, Fourme de Montbrison, Laguiole, Langres, Livarot, Mâconnais, Maroilles, Mont d’Or, Morbier, Munster, Neufchâtel, Ossau–Iraty, Pélardon, Picodon, Pont-l’Évêque, Pouligny-Saint-Pierre, Reblochon, Rocamadour, Roquefort, Saint-Nectaire, Sainte-Maure de Touraine, Salers, Selles-sur-Cher, Tome des Bauges, Valençay
Now for the fun part, cheese and milk head honchos whipped together Bienvenue au Pays du Gout 'Welcome to Country of Taste' hosted by Eric Lefebvre, 7 short and to the point videos in French.
As a teaser, I shared No 7 (below).
You can find the other 6 Videos Here…
Cheese!