27-05-2025
French Gen Z turn noses up at pungent cheese
France's youth are turning their noses up at cheese, with nine per cent of 18-to-24-year-olds saying they ate none of the dairy product, compared with five per cent of the French population as a whole.
This is according to a study by the OpinionWay Institute for the Académie Phormos, a Parisian association of eminent cheese lovers.
Véronique Richez-Lerouge, president of the Association Fromages de Terroir that promotes traditional unpasteurised cheese, said it was above all a question of 'education'.
'At school, young children are now given pasteurised, highly processed cheese that has no taste. And that's a big problem because taste is something you learn. It's like reading or anything else, you can't like something you don't know,' she told The Telegraph.
This was sad because 'when I have done tests with children, they actually love strong cheeses, indeed, they often prefer them. We're becoming increasingly sanitised, Americanised'.
She also blamed 'certain nutritionists who say cheese is too salty, that it's too bad for you, whereas it has many qualities and industrial cheeses are far worse than raw milk cheeses. But that's the dominant discourse.'
Thirdly, there is a trend among militant vegans 'who say we should stop making cheese altogether, and indeed drink milk, that the dairy industry is destroying the landscape and is bad for animal welfare.
'Young people are receptive to the idea that cheese without distinction is somehow bad for the planet.'
Comté, the cheese from eastern France, came first across the board, with 44 per cent of respondents citing it among their favourites. It was followed by Camembert on 31 per cent, Brie on 24 per cent and Roquefort on 23 per cent. Only French cheeses were included.
The findings were also bad news for producers of blue cheeses, which were roughly half as popular as soft and semi-hard ones. Their taste was too strong for modern diners accustomed to fast food.
In a country that Charles de Gaulle famously claimed was ungovernable given its number of cheeses, cheese consumption falls along political lines, according to the poll of 1,014 people, with Right-wingers more likely to eat more.
Just three per cent of president Emmanuel Macron's voters said they did not eat cheese, compared with four per cent of those who backed Marine Le Pen, the radical right National Rally candidate, in the 2022 election.
On the other hand, nine per cent of people who voted for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the radical Left candidate, and 13 per cent of those who favoured Yannick Jadot, the ecologist, declared themselves to be non-cheese-eaters.
'It does seem clear the conservative Right is more in favour of savoir-faire, terroir, history and traditions,' said Ms Richez-Lerouge, who added that one shouldn't oversimplify too much. 'You can be a Green and eat cheese. You can protect nature and choose a farmhouse cheese, for example.'
The smelliest cheeses did not rank highly, with just 16 per cent of respondents naming Munster and 7 per cent Epoisses among their favourites.
Among the 18- to 24-year-olds, the disaffection was ever starker. Just 19 per cent named Camembert among their favourites, 13 per cent Roquefort, 10 per cent Munster, 5 per cent Fourme d'Ambert and 6 per cent Epoisses. By contrast, among over 65-year-olds, 43 per cent cited Camembert as a favourite, 34 per cent Roquefort, 17 per cent Munster, 9 per cent Fourme d'Ambert and 7 per cent Epoisses.
The fact that Comté came top was a source of hope, however.
'It's a very good example of an appellation cheese that has managed to maintain its quality. There are strict specifications requiring 100 per cent raw milk, and wherever you find this cheese, it remains quite good, even very good or exceptional, but never bad,' Ms Richez-Lerouge said.
