Camembert vs Mozzarella (21/10/2021)

The earth-shattering news in the French media this week is that our beloved favorite, the fromage camembert, has been outsold in France for the first time. By an Italian cheese upstart no less: the ubiquitous mozzarella (link in French).

If you are not sure what camembert is, it is a soft unpasturized cheese from the village of Camembert in Normandy that has become a favorite of apéro-lovers for their fancy cheese and charcuterie boards.

The idea that the classic camembert can be replaced by that “cooking cheese” made just about every newspaper and media outlet in France. (Does anyone eat mozzarella by itself? With tomatoes and olive oil perhaps?)

Considering the two cheeses are not really replacements for one another, I suspect that this is another topic we can blame on the current sanitary crisis, until facts prove us otherwise. After all, there is a lot less apéro-ing going on these days, right? That camembert is bound to make a comeback!

In case you are wondering, France is actually doing relatively well in the covid sweepstakes, if we discount the decline in camembert sales. Over 86% of people over 12 yrs old are vaccinated, and masks are worn everywhere indoors and in crowded areas. (If you are coming to France, you will need to get a pass sanitaire to enter museums, restaurants, etc. There is an online form to apply, but apparently there are delays.)

Which leaves us more than enough time to admire President Macron’s penalty-taking abilities at a charity football (soccer) match held this week:

There is an election coming up in 6 months and apparently this is to highlight that he is still 10+ years younger than all of the other candidates.

The charity match did include several former pro footballers (he is younger than them as well), so I suppose well done to him for stepping up and taking the shot. (Bad joke alert: you gotta have the balls for it, right?)

In other news:

• Followup to submarine-gate: BFM Business news is awash with rumors that it may be Canada who steps up to buy those abandoned French submarines, to replace older ones previously purchased from the British. Those with long memories and a Cdn passport (like myself) may remember that those perfidious British subs sank on their maiden voyage to Canada. So let’s hope there is not a repeat.
• The last surviving WWII resistance fighter from France’s Order of Liberation has died at the age of 101. He was recognized with full honors in a moving ceremony by President Macron at Les Invalides in Paris.
• A French study came out showing that Paris has lost 2500 students annually for the past 10 years, not including over 6000 students who moved out of Paris last year alone. That is a rather large % of the population, where children in the city only total around 115,000. With the cost of accommodation in Paris so high, many families are moving out of Paris, becoming a soulless place for tourists.
• It is a good thing the U.K. is an island, because CNN points out that it currently has more new Covid-19 cases than France, Germany, Italy and Spain combined. A previously unconsidered Brexit benefit, limiting the free movement of people.

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A bientôt!