Yes, we French people do value taste in cheeses (The French are hitting their protein goals – thanks to a cheese that looks like ectoplasm, 18 May). There is a myriad of flavours in our dairy industry, from extreme farmhouse dungy-funk to sterilised stinky plastic. But most of our industrial cheeses sit firmly in the vicinity of savoury hardened fat.
So it’s no surprise that cancoillotte is making a comeback! In Paris in my late 20s, every single night out (or in) started with an apéro dînatoire (drinks and snacks). And cancoillotte was a staple. Why? Because if you microwavay it for 30 seconds, you get a great cheese dip for chips, bread, veggies, spoons. Cheap, tasty enough and quick. And now it’s deemed healthy? I rest my case.
Mel Garcon
Sazeray, France
Cancoillotte may be low-fat in its basic version, but at home in Franche-Comté it may be enhanced with butter, white wine, vin jaune or indeed morel mushrooms. Typically it is dolloped on to hot potatoes or smoked sausages. So worry not, there are still people in France who enjoy a hearty meal. But beware! Cancoillotte may come flavoured with garlic or cumin, but also with strawberries. Bon appétit!
Harry Forster
Besançon, France
I can’t say that I’ve met any French people who are unable to pronounce cancoillotte, but certainly its spelling was a mystery for many until it became popular in supermarkets. In fact, in the 1980s, the word figured in one of Bernard Pivot’s dictées nationales (national televised spelling competitions in the form of a dictated passage) and was one of the words used which beat many contestants. We certainly discovered it at that time thanks to the dictée, and it became a firm favourite in our family in the four decades we lived in a Paris suburb, whether poured over hot potatoes or spread on our tartines.
David Boydell
Northmead, New South Wales, Australia