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Comment by com2kid | Hacker News Reader

> I can count about 20 types of cheese in my Swiss fridge right now

Maybe a stupid question, but how can you remember all those different types of cheeses and what they taste like? I'd have to have an extensive notebook every time I went to the store if I wanted to manage 20 types of cheese.

(My typical fancy cheese buying system is to go to the store and buy something at random and hope I like it, which since I like cheese, often works out, but it means buying it again can be almost impossible)

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You know at least 20 songs, from the Beatles to ABBA or Eminem. This is part of your culture because you heard them over and over.

We do the same but with cheeses.

That’s what we’re missing in America - branded cheeses!

ABBA’s Goudas Just Wanna Have Fun and Eminem’s The Real Slim Cheddy from 3Mile. Beatle’s Let it Brie!

Your joke is in good taste (!) but slightly tainted by the fact that Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is by Cindy Lauper, not ABBA.

Clearly they were thinking of Gouda! Gouda! Gouda! (Edam After Midnight)

..._Wensleydale a Stilton to the Brie or Roquefort_

I'm an idiot American and I can definitely remember and describe 20 different kinds of cheese. It's pretty easy to remember if you think in groups based on use: there's a couple of soft cheeses I like with fruit, a couple more that are good on top of pasta, a couple that are good on sammiches, a couple more to make creamy sauces, and a bunch that I just like to eat. You can get to 20 real fast, tho admittedly being someone who cooks makes it a lot easier to keep straight. If everything you eat comes from the freezer or Doordash, maybe not so much.

tl;dr: "This is how I am, therefore this is how normal people are, and you must be the outlier".

Whatever. Knowing 20 of pretty much anything isn't some One Weird Thing. Get out more. Maybe try something new. You have my sympathy.

You forgot "Edit: replaced idiotic post with a '.'".

FYI, I removed the post because of your sudden hostility and because I didn't want to get into an argument. I still don't know why you took so much offense to my post, but I'm not sorry.

You can develop and improve your appreciation for cheese, you don't need to be born in France or Switzerland for that.

I'm not from one of the big cheese nations of Europe, when I grew up we had one kind of cheese for everything, but a couple of years ago I tried to broaden my palette, buy everything I could in local shops and supermarkets, and remembering twenty different kinds of cheese is not difficult.

What also helps is that these cheeses are significantly different, so Emmentaler, Camembert, Parmigiano Reggiano, Mozzarella, Bavarian Blu, Manchego, Pecorino, Gouda, Feta, etc, they all are very different, and most supermarkets in Europe have them all, so you can try out things easily.

One day I need to visit Europe and spend a week just eating cheeses.

I’ve tried buying most of these different cheeses in an upscale American supermarket and have been very disappointed. Even the ones imported from Europe, every variety just sort of tastes either gross or too similar. I swear Manchego tasted better 20 years ago the first time I had it in the US, maybe then big business got ahold of it. The best cheese I’ve ever tasted as an American was actually an expired Limburger cheese. It had such an amazing taste, I’m not joking. But it was at a weird outlet store that sells expired food and I never saw it again.

The only semi exception to this rule (although I still have to make sure it’s authentic!) is buying Parmigiano Reggiano, that stuff is a staple in our household.

Then again the best steak I’ve ever eaten was a 45 day dry aged steak, so I guess I just like funky flavors. Tasted like the most amazing cheese + amazing steak at the same time.

Tastes are pretty easy to remember - think of all the candy bars at a grocery store. Some you may have had only once or twice in your life but I bet most people know what most of the dozens and dozens of candy bars taste like and can recognize them by their branding alone. Don’t sell yourself short!

You know these people who can recite dozens of gun specs, know which bullet pierce which material at which velocity etc, in your country ?

It's part of your culture because you discuss guns all the time, well in France, we do the same but for cheese.

I’m an American who likes trying new things and I could list at least 2 dozen types of cheese I’m familiar with. That’s about it though unless varieties with flavorings or smoking makes them count separately.

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