dLowan, the cheese bigot

Oooh - Sardinia great bread, scary cheese - tell me sardo isn't the maggot cheese!

Whew it isn't. Casu marzu is the culprit

Hard to watch, I saw maggots in my aunt's trash can..

Veils her eyes..

On the bread, I've an article from the past. I'll probably have to scan it, it's just plain art.

Nah...the new god...we separate the sheep from the goats.

Can't we? Looks like you can get anything at our Central Market.

I don't know...I avoid cheese, with regret, most of the time because of the huge fat content, so I don't buy much....but I'd be damn surprised if you couldn't get the stuff mentioned here.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We disagree on this, so it goes. Animal fat seems not to be the cause of this and that, per se. Maybe it's cookies. I'm not very interested in link trading -- too much work.

I hedge.

You can get approximate copies but even our best cheeses, say King Island Triple bries, ash bries and washed rinds, pale into comparison with the European originals in my experience. It's not snobbishness. The distance between manufacturer and consumer, and the smaller size of the producers, and that wonderful habit the French and Italians have of specialising in local produce that has centuries of evolved technique behind it makes something you just can't get here.

A cheese plate in an average restaurant in the Dordogne is a joy, in a good restaraunt in Australia it isn't. A gippsland blue is unsubtle and uncomplex compared to the French equivalent. I don't know what it is, but it was an eye-opener, because I'd thought Oz boutique cheeses were pretty good.

I tried buying a french brie back in Cairns. Don't. They don't survive the travel. Harder cheese might be better but softs can't survive.

But, hinge, I'm not knocking your local efforts.

You do have local terroir. I don't know enough to argue about all this.

But, hinge, I'm not knocking your local efforts.

You do have local terroir. I don't know enough to argue about all this.

Reply confusion Osso, I was writing to Deb, of the state that makes some pretty good cheese (and wines).

Sorry.

Fair enough. I didn't try any cheese in France, which seems odd in retrospect, except that I keep it for special treats anyway as explained above.

Might also have had something to do with travelling with a gluten intolerant, dairy-eschewing vegetarian!!!

I started this thread and believe me or not, it has nothing to do with cheese.

Looks like you need to say the more you said you couldn't say.

I"m surely not surprised, philosophically.

But also, not surprised re the cheese.

oh, watch, a small blue one is running away.

that's true.