Schooled by a Cheesemonger

Sally loves cheese. She has told me on many occasions that her dream job would be as a fromager. I think if the right piece of cheese fell onto a New York sidewalk, she would stop for a few minutes, weighing the risks of eating it.

We were out to dinner with a couple of friends when the cheese plate arrived. Sally was pregnant, and we were not yet telling anyone. She looked down at the plate of runny cheeses, paired with unpasteurized honeycomb, and looked up at me. She had asked me to help keep her away from those foods pregnant women are not supposed to eat. The look in her eyes was the same our dog gets when we’re eating steak. Hopeful, and a little indignant. I had to shake my head subtly so the friends wouldn’t notice. She stuck her tongue out at me.

About a month later, we travelled to England, as we normally do in November. We always make sure we will be in London on a Friday or Saturday so we can make it to Borough Market. There is a stall there that sells bacon rolls that are unlike any I’ve ever had anywhere else, but this trip I tried something else: their pork and stilton burger. It was even better than the bacon roll. Sally couldn’t even have a bite.

While we are at the Market, we always drop down a side alley and stop at Neal’s Yard Cheese. This place sells nothing but cheese, wheels and wheels of it stacked on pallets throughout the small warehouse space.

(As an aside, if an English cheese shop needs to be any more Python-esque: one time we were at the Market and Prince Charles was wandering through the stalls with his security detail and a crowd of on-lookers. In the cheese shop, we watched a local ask what the fuss outside was about. (In my mind this man is wearing a bowler, though in reality he was not.) When told it was the Prince and Camilla, this very English man gave a simple response: “Prince Charles, is it.” Then he continued his shopping.)

In the US, most cheeses are made from pasteurized milk. In Europe and the UK, most are not. Thinking that Sally could not eat anything not pasteurized, we asked to see some of those that were.

The cheesemonger behind the counter asked, “Do you mind if I ask why you’re asking?”

“She’s pregnant,” I said.

“I thought that might be the case. You see, the whole pasteurized/unpasteurized thing is a bit of of a misperception. Especially with Americans.” I raised one eyebrow. Sally raised both.

“Pasteurization really has nothing to do with it,” he continued. “They actually did a study where they introduced listeria to an unpasteurized aged cheese and a pasteurized young, soft cheese. Not only did the the listeria thrive on the soft cheese, but the aged cheese actually killed much of the listeria. They think it was the acids that develop during aging. At any rate, as long as the cheese is aged, and therefore hard, you don’t have to worry.”

Though I was a little skeptical of who exactly “they” were who did the study, before I could object, Sally ordered several cheddars. For myself, I ordered the youngest, runniest cheese I could find.

Part Two: Cheese and Listeria

Tagged as: nutrition, pregnancy

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