Only peril can bring the French together. One can’t impose unity out of the blue (cheese, hihihi) on a country that has 265 different kinds of cheese.
- Charles de Gaulle
Every nation has their pride. People are proud of their country because of its achievements, of its culture, and of its treasures – human, architectural, or culinary. French people pride themselves on many things, and food might be the main one. If French people might recognise many countries can now produce wines of comparable, or even superior quality to the ones produced in the French terroir, cheese is one thing they won’t admit defeat to anyone. Many countries produce good cheeses, of incredible variety and tastes, that is absolutely true. But no other country produces 265 different kind of cheese. You can have 5 different cheeses every week of the year, and some extra ones at Christmas.
Cheese is the one reason I would not become fully vegan. There is just no way I could give up on cheese. Cheese is a salty version of chocolate: it makes everything better. And like chocolate, it goes incredibly well with red wine. Speaking of red wine, I mentioned before the “French Paradox”: the idea that (red) wine is good for you. Well I have another one: dairy products, and particularly cheese, are good for you.
Previous research has shown that people who eat more dairy have lower blood pressure than the others. Low blood-pressure is linked to a better general health and lower risks of heart issues. Exercising is a good way to keep the blood-pressure low… and so is eating cheese! Specifically, a new study just showed that eating cheese daily can counteract the effects of high-salt diet. Here’s another paradox: salt is essential for life in general but too much salt can be seriously bad for our organism. Salt ensure the good functioning of our muscles and nerves and help regulating the amount of water present in all our organs. Humans crave salt and saltiness. However, too much salt can lead to heart issues, problems with blood circulation, and kidney disease. Thus, salt is a bit of a double-edge sword: beneficial in small amount, harmful in large amount. Just like red wine! One of the problem humans are facing is that salt is one of the main components of industrial food (i.e., all the ready-to-go meal, sandwiches, and other processed/canned food).
Let’s go back to this new study I mentioned before: eating cheese counter-act the negative effect of a high-salt diet! The researchers asked 11 people to follow four different diets for 8 days at a time: low-salt/no dairy, low-salt/high-cheese, high-salt/no dairy, and high-salt/high-cheese. Each of the 11 participants did all 4 diets in a randomised order. At the end of each 8-day diet, the researchers looked at the blood circulation and the blood vessels of all participants. They were mostly interested in the capacity the blood vessels had to relax. The blood flow in the body is regulated by the diameter of the blood vessels; when an organ (like muscles when exercising) needs more blood (as they need more energy), the blood vessels irrigating that organ relax and their diameter increases. At the same time, blood vessels going to other secondary-at-the-time organs (e.g., the stomach during a physical activity) contract and their diameter reduces.
In the study, researchers found that after the high-salt/no-dairy diet, participants’ blood vessels did not relax as a result of their salt intake. However, the blood vessels of participants after the high-salt/high-cheese diet were not impaired by the salt intake and relaxed just fine. Crazy, right? Maybe not that much. Remember the antioxidants present in red wine and in chocolate? Remember how great they are for your brain and your health? Well guess what – dairy proteins in cheese also have antioxidant properties!
Before we all start a new diet based on cheese, red wine and chocolate, it is worth noting that this new study was based on 11 people only. Also, those results are based on 8-day diets; we have absolutely no idea how long we can keep a high-salt/high-cheese diet for and still be find. Without mentioning the fact that cheese might not be the most balanced type of food, as it contains a fair amount of fat and salt. But it is reassuring to know that a bit of cheese now and then (once a day is now and then, right?!) in combination with a reasonably healthy diet is actually good for you. Something nutritionists might want to take into consideration before advising cutting all cheese-products from a diet. In a nutshell, more research needs to be done, but it is a very promising start.
I have another crazy fact about cheese. A while back I talked about music and dancing and how our brain treats music in a very special way. Well, it turns out that music can not only impacts our brain, but it can change how a cheese tastes! Yup, there are people out there that actually ran a study on that. Bit bonkers for sure, it remains an honest study that showed that different music influenced the taste of a cheese differently. It is based on a scientific field called “sonochemistry”, the study of the impact of sound waves (what music and sounds are made of) can have an impact on solid bodies, changing some of their properties.
Another way to see it would be to compare sound waves to the seismic waves of an earthquake. Seismic waves can deform pieces of land or destroy buildings because of the vibrations they create that will in turn impact the structure of the building, weakening it, and eventually leading to its collapse. So the seismic waves do not directly tear down buildings; they start a chain reaction that often leads to a building collapsing.
Well, sound waves impact cheese in a similar way. The sound waves will impact one element during the cheese making process, which in turn will impact another thing, resulting in slight differences in taste. Each music style is characterised by specific sound waves and as a result, rock music and classic music will give two different tastes to a cheese.
And you know what? Hip-hop gave Emmental cheese a fruitier taste than Led Zeppelin. Not only that, but when exposed to hip-hop, the cheese had a stronger smell and taste than any of the other musical cheeses. It would be good to know whether all hip-hop songs have a similar effect and increase the musical pool cheeses are exposed to.
If it sounds a bit like crazy-science at first, it could actually be the start of a new-wave (got it? New-wave using sound waves!) approach to food and open new ways to work creatively with food. Anyone tempted by a AC/DC infused ratatouille? That just gave another crazy-science idea: does music impact vegetable growth?
Food for thought, and enjoy your cheese!
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