By Ezra
Over at Kevin Drum's place, a bunch of snotty blue-staters are sniffing about the unquestionable superiority of French cuisine. They make me sick. All the more because they're right. To add my pinch of grievance to the broth, as a liberal, even I don't understand why we can't import or use raw milk cheeses aged less than 60 days (a time period that exempts certain hard cheeses, like parmesan, from scrutiny). Not only are these cheeses significantly more delicious than the pasteurized, bastard versions we eat here, but the likelihood that raw milk will hurt you is almost infinitesimally small.
Other countries, like France, where raw milk rules the roost, are not falling to outbreaks of listeria and salmonella, and, in fact, the most serious recent outbreak of the dreaded listeria came from American hot dogs. Meanwhile, in keeping us safe from this threat that doesn't really threaten, we get meek, mild, comparatively tasteless cheeses. It's really a, ahem, raw deal. Mandate that all raw milk cheeses carry a prominent warning about the (basically nonexistent) dangers lurking in their rinds and folks can make their own decisions, the hypochondriacs sticking with Wisconsin cheddars and the cheese lovers finally tasting a good brie.
For more on this, Salon had a great article on the situation, dangers, and laws awhile back. You can find it here.
