New Yorkers fight to bring back French cheese

Decked out in orange shirts, sunglasses and hats, a small group of peaceful demonstrators gathered in New York City over the weekend to protest against a US ban on the French cheese mimolette.

Javier Lastras/Wikimedia Commmons

Since March US customs have held up several pounds of the bright orange mimolette after the Food and Drug Administration said the cheese contained microscopic mites.

The mites are used in the production of mimolette and contribute to its distinctive gray crust.

Around 40 people met in New York City’s Greenwich Village on Saturday to protest against the ban but also to educate New Yorker’s on the beloved orange cheese.

“We had eight cheese wheels at three kilos each, so we decided to offer them to the public and do a little education at the same time,” Benoît de Vitton, US representative of the Isigny Sainte Mère cooperative, told the AFP news agency.

Vitton says the production process of mimolette, including the use of cheese mites, has never changed.

Other mimolette lovers got the word out about their favourite cheese by creating a Facebook page, “Save the Mimolette.”

Isigny Sainte Mère, in Normandy, France, exports an average of 60 tons of mimolette to the United States each year.

Mimolette has a carrot-coloured flesh and although mimou means “partially soft” in French, the cow's milk cheese is fairly hard when aged.

The French began producing mimolette in the 1600s, perhaps due to the price of importing it from Holland. Now, the dark orange cheese can be found in both Holland and France, particularly in the north.