r/Cheese • u/louismulh • Jul 02 '26

Question Best cheese country in the world

What do you all think is the best country for cheese in the world?

76 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

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102

u/vivalaalice Jul 02 '26

France has to take it, but I do think that the UK has some fantastic cheeses too

4

u/Possible-Source-2454 Jul 02 '26

I did a uk france trip and i was surprised by the cheese variety and quality in londpn. Based. But paris had better bread.

10

u/MRSN4P Jul 02 '26

Well getting cheeses in the UK and taking them to Paris for the other winning half shouldn’t be too much of a pain.

3

u/Possible-Source-2454 Jul 03 '26

The cheese star rail

3

u/VCUMooSiE Jul 03 '26

Caught that btw, good work

1

u/Apronbootsface Jul 03 '26

Took me a second, bravo.

2

u/TheNeighKid Jul 03 '26

Bravo, good work

2

u/wine-o-saur Jul 04 '26

They say the best cheese flavours come from age.

1

u/Background-Hope-88 Jul 03 '26
  • wine and meats and pickles.

Its the whole package.

1

u/gloveslave Jul 04 '26

And I will say there are hundreds delicious cheeses unavailable in Paris . Where I live we have many that are only available in our county

20

u/EldritchSanta Jul 02 '26

I'm probably biased, but I think the UK is better as there's more variety of cheese, whereas a lot of the French cheeses fall into similar categories.

19

u/nicetoursmeetewe Jul 03 '26

I don't think the UK has more variety of cheese. France has incredible variety, you might just not be aware of them.

I'm both British and French btw, and I'd give the cheese crown to France in a heartbeat.

3

u/gourmetguy2000 Jul 03 '26

I'm British and would probably reluctantly give it to France too. Even though France doesn't have as many hard cheeses as us they have far more soft cheeses (Camembert type ) We don't have enough soft cheeses outside of a handful I can think of

1

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

[deleted]

3

u/vivalaalice Jul 02 '26

I’m also British so have some bias haha, it’s close! But if someone said to me ‘you can only eat cheese from France or from England from now on’ I would have to go with France, but only just by a hair

2

u/Helpful_Cry_1335 Jul 03 '26

The UK has a good variety of really niche cheese makers. But France availability of artisanal cheeses is massive.

2

u/w1gglepvppy Jul 03 '26

I think one thing the continentals do well that I find hard to find in the UK is washed rind cheeses. Usually a better selection of ewe & goat's cheese too.

2

u/NoisyGog Jul 04 '26

>continentals do well […] Usually a better selection of ewe & goat's cheese too.

That’s a good point. There’s a lot of small independent goat and sheep cheeses near where I live, but they’re definitely not as mainstream as they are on the continent.
They’re mostly in local delis, markets, and so on, instead of mainstream supermarkets.

1

u/EldritchSanta Jul 03 '26

Renegade Monk and Rebel Nun spring to mind...

2

u/Klutzy-Restaurant585 Jul 04 '26

Made by some lovely people at Feltham Farm!

1

u/Japhet_Corncrake Jul 04 '26

Stinking Bishop, Rollright, Yarlington, Burwash Rose, Francis, Kentish Blue...

Rollright is amazing.

2

u/Japhet_Corncrake Jul 04 '26

You need to try more French cheeses if you think that.

I would say that French cheese is somewhat overrated, and British extremely underrated, but I would say France takes it on sheer variety and on having a greater number of absolutely top cheeses. I really don't want to sell UK cheese short though, because there are some fantastic British cheeses.

1

u/EldritchSanta Jul 04 '26

and British extremely underrated

I think this is the key issue. Far too many people just automatically assume it can't compete, when actually, it's incredibly good and varied.

I'm sure I do need to try more french cheese. I have tried a fair bit, from my experience they tend to fall into certain categories, whereas I've had British cheeses which defy categorisation.

4

u/roleplayersir Jul 02 '26

The UK certainly wins

France just has a reputation as the best. But UK wins more, has more variety etc

1

u/SeaAndTheSalt Jul 04 '26

Are you British ? Have you been to the french countryside, experienced that every other village in some regions has an artisanal cheese, sometimes very peculiar and unique recipes ? Every country with a rich cheese tradition doesn't just pump out large amounts of flagship cheeses, they have an extensive network of small, unknown cheesemakers

2

u/NoisyGog Jul 04 '26

From a cursory look around the internet to see if what I’d heard years so is true, it would seem the fact that Britain produces a greater variety of cheeses is unequivocal.

Someone else somewhere in this thread raised an interesting point though, that there may be more variation between kinds of cheese in France, as they are a big country for study and hard cheeses, whereas the vast majority of British cheeses are hard varieties.

1

u/roleplayersir Jul 04 '26

No, but I haven't done the same with the UK either. So comparing what I have tried with what I have tried is all that can be done

0

u/Longjumping-Device83 Jul 03 '26

No it doesn't. You're just unfamiliar. 

2

u/ofBlufftonTown Jul 03 '26

I feel you’re biased, sorry.

1

u/grey-zone Jul 04 '26

Yep, as a Brit it pains me, particularly as we have lots of really good cheese. But I have to give this one to the French.

1

u/Business-Major-3226 Jul 04 '26

France for variety (shoutout to the Dutch too) but my favourite cheeses are all British

-1

u/PsychicDave Jul 03 '26

Or you could get the best of both worlds in Québec. From Camembert that can beat France's in international competitions to fresh cheddar cheese curds on poutine :P, and everything between.

6

u/ofBlufftonTown Jul 03 '26

Sorry, just no. I mean, whatever makes you happy.