Cheese Course History

In Georgian times, cream was eaten in abundance and cheese was so popular that cheese mongers ran their own fleet of ships to distribute the cheeses from Liverpool to London. Stilton was named after a village near Peterborough. The landlord of the Bell Inn at Stilton was supplied by his sister- in-law, a farmer’s wife who made a variety of cheese now known as Stilton. Back then, it was eaten with a spoon so that you didn’t miss the maggots! Cheese was, for the fashionable set the end of the meal with it being eaten in pieces, or in savoury dishes such as Welsh Rabbit.

Eating is laden with booby traps. Which fork to use? Which glass? Should I use the cutlery laid for my asparagus or my fingers? Finally, and hopefully after dodging the landmines that are buried under the damask, we come to cheese...

The history of the cheese course starts in the beautiful Dairies of the great houses. The Royal Dairy at Windsor Castle, designed by Prince Albert in 1848 is one of the finest, with beautiful tiles from floor to ceiling. “The milk would be brought in, and gone in the settling pans. These pans would have kept cool throughout by water running from three fountains; a mermaid, a merman and a lady holding a jug. The water would have been running constantly under the marble trestle tops, keeping the milk at a temperature where the cream could be skimmed off and taken in the jugs and delivered to the Palaces.” Emma Clarke, Custodian of the Royal Creamery.

Dairies were a huge source of pride on Country Estates great and small, and dairymaids were well known for their beautiful complexions and soft skin. In 1796 it was discovered by Edward Jenner, the doctor who developed the first successful vaccine, that the diary maids who had contracted cowpox were protected from smallpox which killed so many and left those who lived horribly scarred. Dairymaids were so highly prized that one Gentleman in his 70’s with a fine Dairy courted and eventually married the dairymaid.

In Georgian times, cream was eaten in abundance and cheese was so popular that cheese mongers ran their own fleet of ships to distribute the cheeses from Liverpool to London. Stilton was named after a village near Peterborough. The landlord of the Bell Inn at Stilton was supplied by his sister- in-law, a farmer’s wife who made a variety of cheese now known as Stilton. Back then, it was eaten with a spoon so that you didn’t miss the maggots! Cheese was, for the fashionable set the end of the meal with it being eaten in pieces, or in savoury dishes such as Welsh Rabbit. – From The Cheese Course, by Amy Willcock @copyright 2023 reproduced with permission only

Author Amy Willcock is our newest contributor. Amy was the Best in Show Winner for the Etiquette Community in our 2nd Annual Etiquipedia Place Setting Competition. She is most well known for her books on AGA Stove cooking. Her books, "The Aga Bible," "Aga Cooking," "Aga Seasons," "Amy Willcock's Aga Baking," "Amy Willcock's Aga Know-How,"" At Home with Amy Willcock," and "B&B Know-How” are available on Amazon.

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Affectation vs Tact and True Politeness

“It’s not the correct fork which exhibits good manners, but the person eating from the fork.”  

– Maura J. Graber

“Consideration of others is the foundation of all good manners, and the man or woman who lacks that, has mere affectation in the place of tact and true politeness.” –Above- A gilded age, ice cream fork.

The Occult Law of Trifles in Etiquette

One of the want breaches of etiquette of which you may be guilty is to attempt to teach your acquaintances etiquette. If you invite a friend to luncheon at a restaurant for instance, or accept her invitation, you thereby confess that a degree of social equality exists between you and her. And if she eats her oysters with an ordinary fork instead of with the trident that has been specially provided for that purpose it is not within your province to correct her; unless she has previously recognized you as the guardian of her manners. 

If she chooses to convey ice cream to her mouth by means of a spoon instead of a fork, let her do it unmolested. The matter is not of the slightest consequence, and to be in constant fear of transgressing some occult law of etiquette one’s self, or of associating with persons who do so, is to prove one's self not to the manner born and by nature a snob. Even if your country guest eats with her knife in public, you will prove yourself a provincial by paying any attention to it. If it happens to be her custom, to which she has been reared, and if you have a cosmopolitan mind, it will be too insignificant a thing to worry you. However technically perfect your own manners may be, they will exhibit a glaring deficiency if you correct those of other grown persons. 

Besides you are not sure of infallibility, and it is not impossible that you may occasionally rebuke a person who knows even more on the subject than you do and is behaving quite properly in the eyes of the cultivated world. When she eats her cheese with her knife, she is merely following the English habit, and it is quite permissible to take olives, corn, undressed lettuce and lump sugar in the fingers. Again, many of the actions that you consider faulty may be due to the absence of mind engendered by lively conversation, white others are accidents to which anybody is liable. 

Most persons whom one meets socially, have a sufficient knowledge of etiquette to be at home among the people with whom they associate, and that is all that is necessary. A really well bred person never rests her faith on such minute trifles as the angle at which the knife is left or the number of crumbs to be permitted to fall from the piece of bread. Consideration of others is the foundation of all good manners, and the man or woman who lacks that, has mere affectation in the place of tact and true politeness. – Judie Chollet, Wilmington Morning Star, 1894

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Cheese Etiquette

“A French host will always serve some cheese with the evening meal. We tend to eat cheese before the sweet, because having any after dessert is a bit more difficult to enjoy. The host will serve around four cheeses with some baguette, which is eaten with red wine - white wine would be a crime. There are no chutneys, no tomatoes, grapes or apple that goes with it like you have in England. It is a simple mouthful of bread and cheese, not even any butter.” – Eric Charriaux in MailOnline.com

Most people understandably don't think there are many rules for eating cheese, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The etiquette pitfalls are actually numerous, varying from deploying the incorrect condiments and slicing the cheese the wrong way.

Eric Charriaux and his business partner Amnon Paldi own Premier Cheese, which supplies cheese to the restaurant and hotel industry, as well as a range of fromageries called La Cave á Fromage. Here Charriaux explains some of the rules the French have when it comes to eating cheese, starting with how you should always have enough for a selection to offer unexpected guests.

According to Charriaux, “Most French people have their own plastic or wooden container with a selection of cheeses that are ready to be eaten, in case of guests. They will be in a good ripe condition, from a market stall, a farm or a  cheese monger, who usually only sell local cheeses.” Not only does your range of cheese mark you out as a connoisseur or not, but the point during the meal that you serve them does too, as well as what they are served alongside. 

A French host will always serve some cheese with the evening meal. “We tend to eat cheese before the sweet, because having any after dessert is a bit more difficult to enjoy. The host will serve around four cheeses with some baguette, which is eaten with red wine - white wine would be a crime. There are no chutneys, no tomatoes, grapes or apple that goes with it like you have in England. It is a simple mouthful of bread and cheese, not even any butter.”

Now, if your host has gone to such lengths to serve the cheese course in the correct manner, it is only right to enjoy their offerings with the proper etiquette and there are a couple of crucial points to follow, including never, ever cutting the nose (the centre piece) off a triangle brie. 

Charriaux says that cutting the nose off the brie is very bad manners. “You should never cut a triangle by the tip, because then someone will only be left with the outer rind and nothing else. That will trigger terrible comments from people around you.

“The other main point to remember is that if there is blue cheese on the board, it has to be eaten last because of the power of the other cheese. If you eat the blue cheese first, it demonstrates that you have a weak palette. The most important thing to know is this though - cheese is something be enjoyed with good friends.” — Daily Mail Online, 2016

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia