Camembert and Roquefort, Allegories for Humanity
5th February 2024
leopard, Camembert and Roquefort are on the brink of extinction. The cause: a narrow selection of the strains of fungi used to culture the cheeses has been reproduced through an asexual, standardised process —to the point of exhaustion. Could cheese be a metaphor for our humanity adrift?
To understand how this tragedy came about, it’s important to understand the production process that allows these two jewels of French cheese-making expertise to come into the world. To produce Camembert, made from cow’s milk, or Roquefort, made from sheep’s milk, the milk has to be inoculated with very specific fungi: Penicillium camemberti for Camembert, and, logically, Penicillium roqueforti for Roquefort. The presence of these fungi in the milk will transform it and allow it—under the watchful eye of man who monitors the natural process—to develop the fine flavours that will then, after a long evolution, charm the fine palates of gourmets.
The problem is that these little creatures called Penicillia camemberti and roqueforti are rare and fragile.