In the Washington suburb of Arlington, cheese shop owner Jill Erber
is leading a desperate crusade to convince US authorities not to
ban one of her products over the tiny mites that live on its
rind.
The sign behind the counter at Cheesetique, Erber's store and wine
bar where more than 200 kinds of cheese are on offer, says it all:
"Save the mimolette."
In just a few weeks, "we probably won't be able to get mimolette
from our distributors any longer," Erber told AFP.
The US fate of the bright-orange, mild-tasting French cheese has
been in jeopardy for months and the Food and Drug Administration
has blocked all further imports.
Why? Because US regulators determined the cantaloupe-like rind of
the cheese was covered with too many cheese mites, even though the
tiny bugs give mimolette its unique flavor.
No formal ban has been put in place, but 1.5 tonnes (3,300 pounds)
of cheese were blocked from being imported, and nothing is going
through US customs.
Benoit de Vitton of French import company Isigny says those 1.5
tonnes were eventually destroyed.
Result: stocks of mimolette are quickly disappearing, and cheese
enthusiasts are wringing their hands.
Erber has taken to Facebook and Twitter to defend the cause of
mimolette, which she describes as more subtle than gouda, with a
texture that "has a chewy and creamy quality which is really
cool."
"I love any opportunity to argue with silly regulations," she
said.
"Try some mimolette and taste the controversy," says a small sign
near a plate of bits of the cheese for patrons to taste --
hopefully leading to a sale.
In the restaurant section of Cheesetique, menus inform diners about
the FDA decision, noting that mimolette has been "the National
Cheese of France since King Louis XIV."
Controversy apparently sells. Erber has been able to sell seven to
nine pounds of mimolette a week since the FDA move. Previously she
sold perhaps a pound in the same timeframe. At $30 a pound,
mimolette doesn't come cheap.
Liz Elliott-Kimmel, a retiree lunching at Cheesetique, tried
mimolette for the first time during a recent visit.
"It's got a nice taste, it's an excellent cheese," she said.
For teacher Robert Stone, the FDA move makes no sense.
"I think it's silly because it's obviously a safe cheese," Stone
told AFP. "People have been eating it for hundreds of years."
Cecile Delarue -- a journalist who started the Facebook
page "Save the Mimolette" -- says she has come up empty-handed
in her search for the cheese in Los Angeles.
On her page, aficionados share how to have the cheese delivered
from hundreds of miles away.
One man said he is storing some in his cellar for his grandchildren
to enjoy one day. Still others call on their friends to bring back
morsels of the cheese from France.
In Arlington, Erber is planning a "consume the last piece of
mimolette party" at Cheesetique. She has set up a sort of "shrine"
for the last bite.