the taste of milk

This morning I'm drinking my coffee with milk, reading Michael Pollan's New York TImes magazine piece on "nutritionism" (which is pretty good - perhaps too self-referential for my tastes, but, well, we all need to self-promote), and listening to the Tallis Scholars on my itunes. Wait. Milk? I'm a black coffee person. But, I'm also a person who recently discovered how good bio-milk can be in France, and when I added some to my coffee (nothing great - Lavazza's pre-ground bel canto brand) I was reminded of just what coffee with milk is supposed to taste like. Full fat, coating my tongue and gums and cutting the acidity without making me feel like I'm drinking melted coffee ice cream. When I want that, I'll buy ice cream and leave it on the table all day in a bucket.

Today's cheese, is Couommiers, basically a small think brie, quite sweet. I bought a very young piece. I think its made from pasteurized milk, although there's also a raw milk version. Having never had raw milk brie, I'm eager to try that.

I realized that I do have a small complaint about the French cheese market: the dominance of French cheese (I know, duh) and the French taste for their own productions, makes it very hard to find good Italian cheeses, or the Dutch cheeses I love. Of course you could make the same complaint anywhere else in europe - its only in America that you get that great trade of quality for variety, since we're the worlds most diverse importer of specialty cheeses.