French Department holds wine and cheese tasting event to promote French culture on October 23. Dr. Alain Monier of the French Department is seen holding a Baguette and a wine in one hand, while holding a cheese in another hand, to promote French food culture.

France is famous for its cuisines and its cheeses and wines are two of the most popular delicacies that almost become necessities to every Frenchmen. To help students better understand the French culture, the Department of French held a wine and cheese tasting event on October 23. During the event, Dr. Alain Monier of the French Department served as a guide to the event to help students learn French food culture. “There are 365 kinds of cheese in French,” said Dr. Monier, adding that the variety of cheeses can show that how the French people think highly of the particular food. Cheese can be roughly divided into several groups, include Semi-hard Cheese, Goat Cheese and Blue Cheese, he noted. Blue cheese is the kind of milk cheese that has had Penicillium cultures added so that the final product is spotted or veined throughout with blue, blue-gray or blue-green mold, and carries a distinct smell.

But it was because of its distinct smell that very few people at the tasting event would dare to try it. “Blue cheese has a very strong smell,” said Chen Pei-wei, a senior student in the French Department. “I had tasted a little bit but could not stand its smell,” she said, adding that she could barely swallow the cheese if she didn’t have the red wine to drink. Nadege Manissier, an exchange student from France who is currently studying in the English Department said that it has been a long time since she had tasted some French cheese. “Thank to the tasting event, I feel like I am back at my hometown again,” Manissier siad. Chair of the Department of French Yang Shu-chuan said that the holding of the wine and cheese tasting event is to help students to learn French culture through tasting French food. ( ~Yeh Yun-kai )