The Complete Book of Cheese Leaves Gaps

During the past 20 years, the number of informative cheese-related books in circulation has grown substantially. Recently, one more has joined the ranks. The Complete Book of Cheese, by Anne-Laure Pham and Mathieu Plantive, (October 8, 2024, Flammarion) is a guide for the budding turophile, describing the basics of cheese’s history, some facts about the physical and nutritional composition of cheese and cataloging more than 150 modern cheeses into related groups and families. On its own, the book is a fine contemporary primer, but far from complete and covers little that hasn’t been offered in other currently available cheese books. Knowing that the authors operate a Paris cheese shop, it is no surprise that the focus is mainly on European cheeses, but the near dismissal of the emergence of American artisan cheese is questionable. And while there is an interesting sub-focus on Mediterranean cheese, there is zero mention of the small, but growing artisan cheese movements in Asia.

The United States of Cheese

The earliest book by Max McCallman, The Cheese Plate, published in 2002, faced a similar critique regarding the slim inclusion of state-side producers. His later book, Mastering Cheese: Lessons For Connoisseurship From A Maître Fromage (2009) seemed to respond with a more thorough exploration of new-world cheeses. I am the first to acknowledge that those of us involved in the U.S. artisan cheese community are often Exhibit A for homegrown cheese bias. I also realize that the cheese traditions of France, Switzerland, and Italy offer more rich and lengthy histories than what has been happening here in recent decades. That said, the authors of The Complete Book of Cheese seem to treat American cheese as a parochial flight of fancy, while most experts would agree that new-world cheesemaking has moved far beyond its infancy.

A System for Identifying Cheese

The book identifies four major categories of cheese (composed of 24 families and more than 150 specific cheeses) in a way that is helpful. The opening sections on the history of cheese (and theoretical pre-historic origin theories) about cheese are on point, as is the description of how cheese is made. There are helpful guides to purchasing cheese, and to pairing with wine, beer, spirits and other foods, plus beautiful photos and helpful lists and graphics. Aside from the snubbing of American cheeses, this is by no means an “incomplete” book. But, for the North American audience, Liz Thorpe’s The Book of Cheese: The Essential Guide to Discovering Cheeses You’ll Love (2017) is probably a better choice, certainly for its inclusion of outstanding cheeses from both state-side producers and old-world makers. That book also does a better job than anything in print of helping the consumer find links from the cheeses they know and like, to those that they have yet to experience.

The Real Complete Guide to Cheese

Yes, I continue to harp on the word Complete in the title of Pham and Plantive’s effort, but it should be noted that a truly complete guide to cheese (albeit a more academic approach) has been with us since the 786-page Oxford Companion to Cheese was published in 2016. For European readers, and for those who wish to have the most complete cheese-centric library possible, the Complete Book of Cheese will make a perfectly good addition to your collection.