AIBU to not understand the appeal of a cheeseboard?

[ClaraThePigeon]

I like some cheeses, cheddar, feta, mozzarella, halloumi and emmental for example but usually melted or as part of a dish. I don’t really understand the appeal of eating big pieces of cheese and I can’t stand brie or blue cheese.

Yet people positively go into raptures over cheese. It seems to be a positive obsession with some. A friend is incredulous at my relative indifference over cheese and wanted to give me an expensive cheeseboard so I could share her obsession but though incredibly kind of her it’d be wasted on me.

I’m a big believer in each to their own but I wonder what it is about cheese in particular that makes so many people positively evangelical about it?

Love a cheeseboard me. You don't because you don't like cheese. Simples.

For any cheese lovers near London this cheese place is amazing basically like yo sushi for cheese https://www.thecheesebar.com/seven-dials/
They pair each cheese with another interesting flavour you wouldn’t think of. The blue cheese with flapjack was amazing.

OP did not specify, yes but they are very popular. Otherwise the supermarkets wouldn't be do highly stocked with them.

Very few families with a cheeseboard have gone to a posh deli and picked out selected cheeses. Even when they do they overthink it and try to please the masses ending up with a generic mix for everyone and no-one. And even posh cheese goes tacky on a table at a party.

You mentioned wine earlier OP and I feel about wine as you do about cheese. All wine tastes pretty much the same to me (basically just a strong alcohol taste) and any discussion about different ‘notes’ is lost on me.

We have a friend who’s big into wine. He got a bit hacked off when a big group of us were round at his once because he’d put an expensive wine on the table (alongside some other cheaper wines). Friend and I (who were quite the binge drinkers at the time) just pretty much necked it without so much as a pause in conversation. He then quizzed us on what we thought of it. We were already pissed before we’d even started on that bottle so it was completely wasted on us and we were not able to give an assessment of the wine 😂 He was annoyed that we hadn’t ’savoured’ it. 😬

I don’t drink wine any more, it’s not my friend, and it also tastes disgusting to me. It always did tbh but there was a time in my life when getting pissed was more important than drinking something I liked the taste of.

I don't think you're unreasonably to not understand the appeal of cheese, if you don't like cheese. It's not as though you are forbidding anyone to eat cheese, just pondering the attraction!

I love cheese, but I don't understand the appeal of a cocktail cabinet. Because I don't drink alcohol, I find having a whole range of bottles of sinister-coloured sticky drinks vaguely odd. But, there you go, people like cocktails, I like cheese.

We are having a cheeseboard for Xmas lunch about 4pm. 12 cheeses on it so far, 7 different crackers, charcuterie, local pork pie and olives/ chutneys.
I bloody love good cheese.

@ClaraThePigeon - people can get obsessed with breads, cakes, pasta... just about any food out there is going to have its fans. Cheese is so varied and yummy! Plus it's linked to history and regions and families - there's lots of reasons why it has so many lovers.

OP says though that she doesn't dislike cheese. She just doesn't go into raptures about it like lots of the people on this thread do. I am the same - I can take it or leave it. Would never make an active choice to have cheese on a menu. Wouldn't thank anyone for the gift of a cheeseboard with lots of different types. It's just not my thing. Nothing to do with age as i'm ancient, or an unsophisticated palate. If you came for a boxing day buffet at my house there would be all sorts of lovely things, but probably not a cheese board.

I think you're on your own here OP

OP, you were trying to think of something other than cheese that sends people into raptures. Well it's chocolate, especially (dare I say it) women. Personally I'd much rather have cheese but chocolate and cheese aren't that dissimilar if you think about it. In fact, I've just found this on google:-

The protein found in cheese comes from casein which, during digestion, releases casomorphins, a substance very chemically similar to opioids. These casomorphins can attach themselves to the same receptors in our brains as heroin and other narcotics resulting in a little hit of dopamine.

Comté - the rich woody nuttiness
Chaource and Vignotte - the deep creaminess
Wensleydale - the fresh fragrant acidity
Taleggio - the silky stickiness

And so on.

All salty, savoury and satisfying.

So.........I'm a cheeseaholic? 😭

I'm not fond of cheesey dishes BUT give me a chunk of some decent cheese! 😋

No wonder I can't lose weight 🙄

.

OP I used to be like you, would only eat cheddar and maybe a camembert If I felt like it, its only been in the last 5 years or so that I will eat more cheese such as Wensleydale and cranberries and in the last few months blue cheese. honestly tastes change as we get older so what we liked/didnt like at say 21 may not be the same at 31. there's nothing wrong with trying a cheese board with a friend. and then going actually yeah I'm not keen and don't get the obsession just like its okay to go well acutally I can see what you mean.

YABVU

Cheese in all forms is life - not sure how I'm going to give up dairy.

I love Caerphilly. Brings back memories of sitting in my granny’s Rayburn-warmed kitchen, eating Caerphilly with crusty farmhouse bread and creamy butter, and drinking tea that tasted so different because the water was so much softer than at home. There are some lovely artisanal ones to like Thelma’s and Gorwydd Caerphilly.

I can easily see a life without ever again eating cheese. It simply doesn't appeal to my tastebuds.

You have not eaten good cheeses in your life that’s all it is.

You mentioned wine earlier OP and I feel about wine as you do about cheese. All wine tastes pretty much the same to me (basically just a strong alcohol taste) and any discussion about different ‘notes’ is lost on me.

I’m largely the same as you, except I can tell when wine is absolute crap. The finer properties are lost on me though. I don’t think I’d be able to differentiate between a £25 bottle and an £1000 bottle (not that I’ve ever tried a £1000 bottle). But I think some people have much more sensitive taste buds though - I read once that most wine tasters are ‘super tasters’.

God reading this is like porn to me

Here is a naughty one from page 34 of this months 'Readers Cheeses'

Oooooooh yeah.

@TheCadoganArms that's utter filth. You degenerate.

[rubs thighs]

I don't care for tea or coffee, but loads of people are extremely enthusiastic about them. I don't really question it.
Cheese is my thing though, so many flavours and textures. Cheese has actually been one of my biggest expenses this Christmas. I've spent a fortune on local cheeses. And on wine. And a good port.
Heaven to me.

There's a floating cheese barge restaurant in Paddington basin. On,y cheese.

Must. Go. To. Cheese. Restaurant

🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀