A Lifetime in Cheese...

Hello Cheese Enthusiast!

Image courtesy of Androuët

Shortly after being elected president for a fourth term in 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was asked what he would like to do when he retired. “I would like to open a cheese shop in Hyde Park like that kept by my friend, Monsieur Pierre Androuët in Paris,” he replied. 

So who was this man that our 32nd President of the United States admired so much?....and more importantly, what was so special about his cheese shop?? 

To answer that question, we must travel back to the year 1909 and meet his father Henri Androuët. Henri was working as a peddler when he had the idea of bringing cheeses from all over France to Parisians who had not had the pleasure of tasting them. 

Henri Androuët goes into business that same year and opens his shop which was located at 41 rue d'Amsterdam. The House of Androuët was born, with the affinage of cheese as one of its primary goals. 

During this time in history, the roads were not yet paved which prevented these cheeses from getting to the markets of Paris. Henri spent much of his time building the relationships with the cheesemakers and respecting their time-honored craft. 

Pierre Androuët (Henri’s son) was born in 1915 and was raised in his father’s shop. By the time that Pierre was 18, he knew that his heart was in the family’s business and he wanted to carry on the legacy.

Image courtesy of Abe Books

 In Pierre’s lifetime he authored (and co-authored) at least twelve books. One of his most celebrated was Guide du Fromage written in 1971 which started off as a loving letter from Pierre as a father to his daughter, and it ended up becoming a 583 page book. Pierre guided the reader through each cheese by their province, milk type, fat content, rind, aging, shape, what wines to pair it with, and most importantly, what time of year it was at its best. He was recognized as one of France’s greatest gastronomers

The beginnings of the Guilde des Fromagers…

By 1968, Pierre Androuët had spent most of his life working in and around cheese. Over the years he learned the cheesemaker’s stories and understood their passion for the cheeses they were making. He watched the local cheese retailers, affineurs and distributors who preciously cared for these cheeses and worked tirelessly to sell them at their à point condition…but how to truly recognize these dedicated cheese professionals?

Image courtesy of Androuët

The idea was born in 1969 to create the Guilde des Fromagers – An organization of producers, retailers, distributors and affineurs to celebrate the special bond that they all share with the love of cheese. Through the extensive research that he had done over the years, he remembered the story of Saint Uguzon who started life as a young shepherd named Lucio in the mountains of the Carvagna in the Italian Alps. It was said that he discovered to heat the milk during the cheese making process, which gave him a greater yield than the other cheese producers in the area. Lucio would give away this extra cheese to the poor. A former employee of his was so jealous of the admiration that Lucio received that he killed him. It is said that a spring of healing waters rose from that same spot. He was canonized in the 16th century and a small chapel was built in his honor. Today, he is the patron saint of cheesemakers and his birthday is celebrated on July 12th.

Pierre was so taken by this story that Saint Uguzon’s likeness is in the center of each Guilde medallion. The ribbon that adorns it has three stripes on it; Green for the grass; White for the milk; and Orange for the Cheese. The robes worn by the members during an induction ceremony are patterned after Paris merchants from the XVI Century.

The first induction was held in March 1970. By the end of March 2020, there have been 579 such inductions with 7,323 enthronements. Today the Guilde is in 33 countries.

The Guilde des Fromagers, New World Chapter was first formed in 2012, to recognize the cheese community in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Canada.

It was my greatest honor to be inducted into the Internationale Guilde des Fromagers in 2016

Until next week…

Trevor