In France, we consume on average 27 kg of cheese per year ! It’s an understatement to say that it’s one of our favorite foods…
Are the French the biggest consumers of cheese?
This is a widely held idea. And yet, despite an annual consumption of 27.2 kg, the French are not the biggest cheese consumers in the world! According to a study conducted by the International Dairy Federation, it is actually in Denmark that this title belongs! Thus, the Danes would consume no less than 28.1 kg of cheese per year ! And when we know that the Danes are the happiest in the world, there is reason to wonder about the existence of a link (or not!). Denmark is ahead of Iceland (27.7 kg) and Finland (27.3 kg) … France finally only ranks in 4e position with its 27.2 kg of cheese per inhabitant per year. With 26.7 kg of cheese consumed per inhabitant, Cyprus completes this top 5.
What are the favorite cheeses of the French?
A study by Kantar, published by FranceAgriMer1, looks at the most purchased and consumed cheeses over the past year. What results? With 148,757 thousand tonnes marketed in France, Emmental is the cheese most consumed by the French. Then come camembert, raclette, mozzarella and goat cheese.
8 different kinds of cheese
There are no less than 1,500 varieties of cheese that can be divided into 8 families:
- fresh or white cheeses are characterized by their high water content (about 77%). We find in this family cottage cheese, cottage cheese, mozzarella, feta…
- soft cheeses with a bloomy rind have a fluffy white rind. Camembert, brie, chaource are part of this large family.
- soft cheeses which often have an orange rind. Their smell is as strong as their flavor is sweet… Among those? Munster, Livarot, Epoisses, Maroilles…
- Blue-veined cheeses, made from cow’s or sheep’s milk and showing mold such as Roquefort, Bleu d’Auvergne, Fourme d’Ambert, etc.
- uncooked pressed cheeses. Their particularity lies in their manufacturing process: they have not been heated to more than 50°C! This is the case with mimolette, cantal, tomme de Savoie, raclette cheese…
- cooked pressed cheeses (whose paste is very hard and generally has holes). We find in this family abundance, Beaufort, Gruyère, Emmental…
- goat cheeses
- Processed cheeses most often result from cooking a cooked or uncooked pressed cheese. These are spreadable cheeses such as cancoillotte, aperitif cubes…
1. Consumption of dairy products in 2021, www.franceagrimer.fr.
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