The Karl Lagerfeld of Cheese
Cheese Festival New Caledonia
By John Corbett http://www.stuff.co.nz/
Image: Some of the 130-plus varieties of French cheeses at the Noumea Festival des Fromages.
"Ici, je presente ma collection printemps-ete" ("Here, I am presenting my spring-summer collection"), says Maitre Gerard Poulard.
"Vraiment" ("Indeed"), I reply.
Maitre Poulard speaks very little English so our conversation is in French. "You are, it seems, rather like a cheese equivalent of Karl Lagerfeld."
He smiles and waves dismissively but the resemblance is there, right down to the ponytail that shows when he turns his head.
And there's no disputing his Lagerfeld status in the cheese world.
In France he's a Maitre Fromagier (Cheese Master), a sought-after consultant with an encyclopedic knowledge of his subject.
For the last 12 years he has brought an annual collection of around 130 cheeses (some of them rare and available only in France) to Noumea for his popular two-week gourmet event, Le Festival des Fromages.
"There is a certain affinity between cheeses and fashion," he says, picking up on my remark.
"For example, I also present an autumn-winter collection in France, but to my mind, the cheeses of spring and summer are always better.
"That is when the best and richest milk is produced and the cheeses are full of life and force and freshness; you can taste the young grasses and the flowers and the newness of the season."
One of the pleasures of a conversation with Maitre Poulard is appreciating his Gallic habit of mind.
Like many Frenchmen, he views his profession through a philosophical lens and expresses himself with panache.
"Cheese is essentially a feminine product", he declares, as our conversation continues along the avenue of fashion.
I must have made a dubious face.
"How is that, you ask? Well, the farmer is busy out in the fields tending to his animals and his crops.
"At home, in the kitchen or in the barn, it is the farmer's wife who makes the cheeses.
"There is therefore a very strong female tradition of cheese making in France.
"But of course, one must also not forget les abbayes (the monks).
"They have always been great gourmets."
Sein de Nounou, an "evocative" raw goat-milk cheese.
Listening to his flow of knowledge and observations and anecdotes, it becomes clear that Maitre Poulard's passion for his subject is inseparable from a love of the French countryside and its time-honoured artisanal practices.
He is so closely attuned, in fact, that he can sometimes tell you the name of the cow or goat or sheep that produced the milk for a particular cheese.
With a chuckle, we pass over General de Gaulle's famous dictum about the difficulty of governing a country that has 246 varieties of cheese.
"Actually it is many, many more," he says.
"Many cheeses in France today are protected and regulated by appellations, which is a good thing, but that is by no means the end of the story.
Every farm and village and town and region has always had its own way of doing things…"
Does that mean it is still possible for new varieties of cheese to emerge, even from France?
"Every cheese," he continues, "expresses a moment of time, and culture, and weather". And sometimes, perhaps, a touch of whimsy...
"Come and look at the cheeses before you go," he says.
Halfway along the table a name tag catches my eye.
"Ah, Sein de Nounou," he murmurs, smiling down at a dusky-coloured raw goat-milk cheese whose conical shape, produced by the funnel used to make it, is unmistakable.
"This is a traditional cheese from central France.
"It was common, you know, in older times, amongst families of a certain standing, to employ a wet nurse and nanny (nounou) for the children.
"Some families, perhaps, still do. So for many, this is a cheese of evocation and memories…"
Outside the function room, 150 cheese lovers have gathered and are waiting for the evening's tastings to begin.
It was time, with reluctance, to go.
GETTING THERE Air New Zealand and Aircalin fly to Noumea from Auckland six times a week.
STAYING THERE Le Meridien Hotel; Sheraton New Caledonia Deva Resort & Spa.
BEING THERE The 2015 Festival des Fromages is on June 2-13 at Le Meridien Hotel, Noumea, and June 18-20 at Sheraton New Caledonia Deva Resort & Spa (Bourail district).
The writer travelled courtesy of Aircalin.
- Stuff