In the heart of Normandy, a group of dairy devotees has launched a cultural crusade to protect the authenticity of camembert cheese.
Clad in medieval garb and armed with cheese knives, the Brotherhood of the Knights of Camembert is seeking Unesco recognition for the famed French fromage as an intangible cultural heritage.
They aren’t the first to try and safeguard the legacy of this renowned cheese. In January, after three decades of legal battles, a French court barred dairy giants that mass-produce the staple cheese from labelling their products as “made in Normandy”, in a move to protect traditional cheesemakers who adhere to the Norman method of making camembert by hand with unpasteurised milk.
Camembert has long divided opinion among French society, with purists insisting that only raw milk can deliver its true, authentic flavour, while supermarket brands use pasteurised milk to meet safety standards.
French food critic Périco Légasse described factory-made camembert as “merde pasteurisée” - or pasteurised s*** - that “sullies Normandy” in a column for Marianne magazine.
Dominique Vignat, the grand master of the Camembert Knights, hopes a Unesco world heritage status would help people find the real camembert among all the cheeses on the market.
According to its website, the Brotherhood has 16 dignitaries and more than 1,000 knights, including political and cultural figures and camembert professionals from around the world.
They describe their uniform as “a cream-coloured coat-dress reminiscent of matured Normandy camembert, adorned with a bordeaux (burgundy) ribbon recalling the wine of the same name often associated with this prestigious cheese”.
"It's an iconic product that represents France. And it's one of the oldest cheeses, dating back to the French Revolution,” Ms Vignat told the French outlet France 3 Normandie.
"We do it above all to protect it and its know-how because camembert is a true cultural heritage. It is certainly one of the most complicated cheeses to make, it seems simple but it is not.”
While Unesco does not list foods as an intangible cultural heritage, it has recognised culinary practices that are passed down from generation to generation. This includes the making of sake in Japan, the brewing of beer in Belgium and the Neopolitan “pizzaiuolo”, the art of pizza twirling in Naples.
