The French Cheese Board

At lunch or dinner you are always offered a cheese course in French restaurants, and most French people will take it.

Even in the most out of the way rural places, such as a restaurant in the middle of the Brenne, cheese is taken seriously. The cheese board here is expanded to a full on cheese trolley, and the choice is extensive. It includes all the local goat cheeses and many cow's milk cheeses from far and wide in France.

The waitress in the picture is called Camille. Her name badge says she is a stagiare, meaning she is a trainee (or more properly, an apprentice) doing work experience. The government provides financial incentives to restaurants to employ young people under the age of 19 for two years and train them up in the business. Waitressing is a proper profession in France, and Camille will learn all about how to present and serve food both on the job and in formal training at the Centre de Formation d'Apprentis (Apprentice Training Centre) . Camille will have chosen her profession because she cares about food and waiters are part of the restaurant team all working towards providing the diner with good food at a fair price (un bon rapport de prix et qualité, a very common French expression of praise for a restaurant they have enjoyed).

Susan