07/10/2026
Parlez-vous Francaise 🧀.???
One of my favorite ways to understand France is through its cheese. You can drive just a couple of hours and find a completely different style, recipe, and tradition waiting for you. It is one of the tastiest ways to see how much France changes from one region to the next.
Normandy is known for creamy classics like Camembert de Normandie, Livarot, Pont l'Évêque, and the heart shaped Neufchâtel. Head east of Paris and you'll find Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun. In the mountains of Savoie, Beaufort, Reblochon, and Abondance have been made for centuries, while Burgundy is famous for rich cheeses like Époisses, Comté, Morbier, and Mont d'Or.
The Loire Valley is packed with excellent goat cheeses including Crottin de Chavignol, Sainte Maure de Touraine, Valençay, Selles sur Cher, and Pouligny Saint Pierre. Travel farther south and you'll discover Roquefort, aged naturally in limestone caves, Ossau Iraty from the Pyrenees, Banon wrapped in chestnut leaves in Provence, and Brocciu, one of Corsica's best known specialties.
You could spend a lifetime tasting your way across France and still find cheeses you've never heard of. That is part of what makes traveling here so much fun. Every market, village, and region has something different to put on the table.
Which French cheese would you try first, or do you already have a favorite?
