The cheese is alive!

The cheese here is over the top, ubiquitous and provided at every meal. The locally produced version is wet and milky, served in a bowl, and doused with herbs. It all tastes different, with an unctuousness and a tartness that you don't find in even artisan-produced US cheeses.

The cheese here is alive. It reminds me of a radio show interview with a French chef in which he was bemoaning the way Americans treat cheese, hermetically sealing it in plastic, relegating it to a too-cold refrigerator. "In France," he said, the cheese is alive. We leave it on the counter to breathe and grow." And enjoy, although I may need to take a cheese break when I get home.