Posted on 11/19/2001 2:14:19 PM PST by testforecho
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:49:34 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
It was the night of 12 cheeses, a gathering in which the main fare was fromage, the aged offerings of cow, sheep and goat's milk. The cheese was spread on slices of crisp bread, served with glasses of red and white wine.
It was a cheese tasting held in Glen Burnie Town Center, where Anne Arundel Community College has recently opened kitchens and classrooms used by the college's Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Tourism Institute. I was among the handful of restaurateurs, college administrators and cheese heads who had gathered to be led by Jack Fromberg down the butterfat road.
(Excerpt) Read more at sunspot.net ...
This is more like it ... (click the pic for images of French cheeses in all their glory ... enough to make the Swiss Colony look like the Disney channel of cheese!)
I think one reason to prefer French cheeses is the fact they're rarely "wrapped so tight" as the others. =)
Would I had the willpower to keep cheese in the house.
It's the first thing I buy for a party ... =)
A friend of mine, who has an extensive extended family, was dining with most of them one evening. Included were several pre-teens. The bill of fare was, as is common in their household, macaroni and cheese.
One of the pre-teens commented on how different the entree tasted to him from "real" macaroni and cheese -- by which he meant, as pre-teens often do, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. He contrasted my friend's wife's dish unfavorably with the commercial preparation.
An uncle to the clan cleared his throat. "Kevin," he intoned, "you know I sell cheese, don't you?" The youngster nodded. "Well, it's about time you learned about the Great Pyramid of Cheese." And he told them all about it.
It seems that there are places where they make Cheese. The real stuff, straight from the milk, brimming with the odorific and oleaginous virtues that your narrator found she couldn't renounce. And it is good.
Most of it, anyway. Some wheels of cheese just don't turn out right. But they're not thrown away, oh, no. That would be wasteful. They're sold to factors from other shops, which take them in, and melt them down, and add oil, and chemicals, and further processing, and thereby produce... Cheese Food. Cheese Food is regulated by law to contain no more than 49% non-milk additives, and must not contain any but a specified list of preservatives and artificial flavor enhancers. There are people who eat Cheese Food by choice. There are others who are trying to help them.
But some batches of Cheese Food don't come out right either, and they're not thrown away, either. They're sold to factors from other shops, which take them in, and melt them down, and add oil, and chemicals, and further processing, and thereby produce... Process Pasteurized Cheese Food. PPCF is the step down from Cheese Food, and may contain up to 70% non-milk additives, plus a much wider range of flavor and color enhancers, and preservatives that guarantee that it will not spoil over the three months between your toddler's two demands for a grilled cheese sandwich RIGHT NOW, MOM!
And not all of this is saleable, either, but (you guessed it) it's not thrown away just for THAT. The rejected barrels are sold to factors from other shops, which take them in, and melt them down, and add oil, and chemicals, and further processing, and thereby produce... Process Pasteurized Cheese Food Substance. PPCFS may contain up to 82% non-milk additives. The flavor and color are almost entirely chemically produced, and the preservatives in it are reputed to be stronger than formaldehyde. Velveeta was once PPCFS, but has moved up the pyramid to Level 3 (PPCF). Cheez Whiz is PPCFS. A number of people have drawn images of the Blessed Virgin on their basement walls with PPCFS from spray cans, and have made quite a lot of money.
But... that's right. Some of it doesn't meet the standards for retail-saleable PPCFS. The rejected barrels are sold to factors from other shops, which take them in, and melt them down, and add oil, and chemicals, and further processing, and thereby produce...well, it doesn't really have a name, and it doesn't need one, either, because all of it is consumed by a single company.
"And Kevin," the uncle rumbled, "would you like to guess what that company is?"
Little Kevin swallowed and shook his head.
"It's the Kraft Company, Kevin."
And I, who have set this tale down for you, have checked it in all particulars, and every word of it is true. And I'm told that little Kevin no longer asks for Kraft Macaroni And Cheese, either.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
Who bites your sister?
Kubrick bump.
No, that's a 'high pot of mousse' - lovely whipped dessert piled up in a bowl. I think it comes in cheese flavor.
A holy shrine in the cheese world.
Say,You're kinda cute,what's YOUR Sine?
there's gonna be a change around here.
from now on, it's only free range cheese for us.
thanks for the heads-up.
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