BIGGEST CHEESE-EATERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 February 1930, Page 2

BIGGEST CHEESE-EATERS

BRITISH HOLD THE PALM. The United Kingdom, most people will be surprised to know, is probably the greatest cheese-eating unit in the world. At any rate, it is the greatest importer of cheese, the total in 1928 amounting to about 150,000 tons, and a large amount of native cheese is consumed. The Empire Marketing Board has been analysing the Londoner’s taste in cheese and after consulting 500 retailers doing all classes of trade in different parts of London it publishes its conclusions in a shilling pamphlet issued by the Stationery Office. The popular taste, it seems, is for mild cheese from the Dominions, 84 per cent of the imported cheeses in 1928 coming from the oversea Empire, New Zealand sending the main supply, with Canada next. From foreign countries, Dutch is the favourite, with Italian next. Some curious facts come out in the survey. Cheddar cheese is the ruling cheese. In 245 shops visited in Lambeth and Westminster the proportion of English cheese to New Zealand was 51 to 94. The prices given for New Zealand cheese were from a shilling to 1/4, for Canadian a, shilling to 1/6, and for English 1/2 to 2/-. White Cheddar was the favourite, but coloured cheese was popular at Deptford and Woolwich and the dock districts, and also in Willesden, this being due, it was said, to the presence among l>e railway workers of many Irish and North Country families. Cheshire cheese came next, and its popularity was mainly in the better-class residential areas. It sold best about Christmas, and in some cases in summer to be eaten with salad. Stilton was only stocked in the prosperous districts, and tlieu the sale was mainly ,at Christmas-time. The trade was, diminishing. Only one firm of 245 visited claimed to sell any large quantity of Wensleydale. It disposed of about 500 cheeses in the season. Again the trade was mainly at Christ-mas-time. This did not surprise one. for very few people in London seem to know about Wensleydale cheese, and, indeed, no effort is made by the trade to advertise to 'the new generation anything about Stilton or Wensleydale cheese. Curiously enough, the export of Stilton and double Gloucester cheese to American connoisseurs steadily increases. Dutch, Swiss, and French cheeses do not seem to have quite the hold on the English market that one thought. The Dutch cheese comes first. Of 500 shops visited in this survey 84 stocked Gouda and 242' stocked Edam, but both are falling off in. popularity. Goudas are most popular in Jewish districts. Of other foreign cheeses their popularity is in this order — Gorgonzola. Camenbert, Gruyere, Rochefort, and Parmesan. Gorgonzola has a wide distribution, and even in working-class districts more than half the shops stock it. A great part, of course, is due to the restaurant trade. Some places stock Gorgonzola only during cold weather. The point that comes out is that English cheese instead of being more desired as the general taste gets more cultivated, is losing ground, and even the processed methods are not making up the difference. The English cheese seems to need a “Mustard Club.”