A Unique French Wine The Best English Cheese

It’s the color of dark rum, a huge sweet presence on the front palate but the finish is transformed into an infinitely lingering, burnt toast zestiness. It has an alcohol content of 18%, so it’s certainly not a regular wine, and a residual sugar of 139 g/L. Standard wine will be less than 5, so there’s something pretty unusual [ . . . ]

Source: A Unique French Wine The Best English Cheese

This Whole Foods map of French cheese is a crime against dairy

The French cheese lovers of Twitter are having a little fun at the expense of Whole Foods after photos popped up online showing what appears to be a crime against the world’s best cheese.

Labeled “Cheeses From France,” the displays — allegedly seen in Detroit and Washington D.C. stores — features a stylized map of the country that incorrectly pinpoints the origins of cheeses famously named for the places they’re produced.

Oh la la!

Source: This Whole Foods map of French cheese is a crime against dairy

A Controversial Restoration That Wipes Away the Past

CHARTRES, France — The pilgrim did not find what he was searching for. As a child, Patrice Bertrand heard his mother recount details of her visit to the shrine of the famous Black Madonna of Chartres Cathedral, 60 miles southwest of Paris. Now Mr. Bertrand, 41, of Nantes, was following in her footsteps. But he was perplexed by what he discovered: “The statue I came to see is not here anymore,” he said. The Black Madonna had become white.

The decision to remove what a plaque in the cathedral calls the “unsightly coating” from the 16th-century wooden icon has come to symbolize the contested transformation of Chartres, which has been undergoing a decade-long restoration. For almost 500 years, pilgrims worshiped the Virgin’s dark visage, and it accrued the kind of mythic currency integral to Catholic worship. To some critics, the repainting has erased a cultural memory from a building its restorers say they are saving. [ . . . ] Read Full Story NY Times

Chef Alain Ducasse headlines new documentary, Paris restauran

PARIS, Sept 2 — It’s been a big week for chef Alain Ducasse, who announced the opening of another restaurant in Paris and released the trailer for a new documentary hitting French cinemas next month.

Ducasse, who holds 18 Michelin stars for 20-plus restaurants around the world, created a buzz in the French food world this week after revealing plans to open a new restaurant called Spoon in Paris at the end of the month.

The opening revives one of Ducasse’s former restaurant concepts Spoon Food & Wines, which launched in 1998 as a fusion restaurant and featured flavors from around the world. Diners could mix and match sauces and sides for their main course in a form of deconstructed gastronomy [ . . . ] Read more at : Chef Alain Ducasse headlines new documentary, Paris restaurant | Eat/Drink | Malay Mail Online