Description

Winner of the John Avery Award at the Andre Simon Awards 2024

In A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France, Ned Palmer wends his way around the country’s regions, meeting the remarkable cheesemongers who carry the torch for France’s oldest and most treasured traditions. Every French cheese carries an essence of the place where it’s made – its history, identity and landscape. Sometimes that’s a physical thing, as the hard texture of Comte echoes its mountainous home in the Jura. Other times it’s about power and politics – Brie swelling to royal dimensions due to its proximity to the French court, or Camembert gaining national status after being supplied in patriotic boxes to First World War soldiers.

Witty, fascinating and endlessly moreish, A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France is the perfect guide to a French cheeseboard – and a terrific insight into la Belle Republique.

Publisher Review

A celebration of the quality, traditions and idiosyncrasies within traditional, small-scale French cheesemaking — ‘Best Food Books for Christmas’ * Club Oenologique * Unearthing the history and people behind some of the country’s finest fromages * Specialty Food * Praise for Ned Palmer: Full of flavour … Palmer writes with pace and passion, and his encounters with modern-day practitioners fizz with infectious delight * Sunday Times * An utter delight, rousing, infectiously impassioned and inspiring * Spectator * A delightful and informative romp through centuries of British cheesemaking … it would make a fine Christmas present, along with a wedge of Sparkenhoe Red Leicester — Bee Wilson * Guardian * I hugely enjoyed [this] engaging, learned, funny, surprising book. Palmer wears his extraordinary range of knowledge lightly, but he is serious too. His book is history from below, from the perspective of daily life … the best kind of social history, the kind you can eat — John Lanchester A beautifully textured tour around the cheeseboard — Simon Garfield