The Times view on the UK’s dairies: Say Cheese

Britain produces almost 1,000 varieties of cheese, almost double the French total

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE

T

S Eliot was notoriously fussy about his cheeseboard. He liked a good selection of good cheeses, for himself and for his guests. He wrote to this newspaper in 1935 to play down current proposals to erect a statue to the inventor of Stilton but suggested instead forming a Society for the Preservation of Ancient Cheeses, confirming his own particular partiality to Cheshire and “Double Gloster”. Where the great poet led, two generations later today’s enthusiasts are demanding ever more cheese and ever more varieties for the British gourmet.

Already this country is consuming mountains of cheese, with a huge demand especially for rarer speciality cheeses: Comté, Ossau-Iraty, Morbier and Chaource. Tesco has almost doubled its sales of Triple Crème Brie over the past year.