Cheesemakers the world over are wary of bureaucracy. In his book, Camembert: A National Myth the writer Pierre Boisard explains why:
“Milk has always fascinated and irritated scientists… for scientists nothing was more baffling and unscientific than the skill of the cheesemakers, who managed to produce savoury cheeses without knowing anything at all about microbiology.”
What M. Boisard identifies in the anxious relationship between dairy science and artisan cheesemaking is one of the most ancient tussles in civilisation: art versus science.