My father spent his formative years from approximately the age 9 until about the age of 25 in Berkeley, California (except for a couple years in the army, having been drafted during the Korean Conflict). When I was young, we drove to Berkeley every year for Thanksgiving to visit all of our relatives, and one of the many memories I have is of the Co-Op grocery store (one of three that was in Berkeley) which was at the corner of Ashby & Telegraph (it is now a Whole Foods). Having grown up in track housing of Orange County, visiting Berkeley was like being in a different country. 
The feeling was exemplified when at the Co-Op; there was a big bulletin boards of events, information, barters and trades, a day-care in the grocery store, and the odd concept of being asked for our “membership card” when we bought anything. Being so young, it took me awhile to understand that we WERE allowed to shop there, but that the price was higher if we weren’t members… The Co-Op branding is still etched in my memory too; it was on their newsletters, the milk cartons, bags of sugar, etc. I just scoured the Internet for a picture of the old Co-Op’s logo but couldn’t find it (if any of you reading this have an electronic copy of it, please let me know in the comment section and I’ll post it). THAT Co-Op is long gone; it folded in the early 1980’s unable to survive as distributors and large chain markets pushed them out of business (there are assuredly other reasons too; if you have a link to any articles about it, let me know, I’ll link it)…
Cheese Bryce? Where’s the cheese?
Yes, inner-cheese voice, I was getting to that… Where’s the cheese? The Cheese is at excellent current-day Co-Ops here in the Bay Area (and hopefully elsewhere in the nation/world too). I know I have mentioned it before, but let me say a few words about Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco. It is a worker-owned cooperative, and if you are unsure what that means, exactly, here is their description [click link].
Are you getting onto another soapbox about responsible food buying or something?
No, I’m going to talk about two French cheeses actually, but all this is lead up to mention that Gordon Edgar, who I have mentioned in several postings in the past, is the cheese purchaser and expert at Rainbow Foods, and has been working there for over 12 years. Beyond just being a cheese expert, Gordon’s a Board member of the California Artisan Cheese Guild, is often a judge in a large variety of cheese competitions, and is generally just a nice guy. Best of all though, is that he shares his love and knowledge of cheese with Rainbow’s customers and the world at large. Yesterday I went to Rainbow to pick up some Saint-Félicien cheese for a friend of ours, and was glad that Gordon was at the store. Rainbow has perhaps the largest, and best cheese counter of any grocery store in the Bay Area. 
Just as I mentioned in a earlier post, places like Safeway just don’t have anyone of expertise to answer any questions about the cheeses that they carry. Rainbow, however, has an excellent knowledgeable staff and Gordon. In the seven minutes or so that I visited, a customer asked about low-salt cheese choices, and another asked about organic goat-milk cheeses. It’s refreshing to see customers to get such personal attention in regard to their cheese choices. I asked Gordon if there was any specific cheeses that they currently had that he was excited about. “I’m always excited about all of it, actually… but let me see…” Gordon suggested some blue cheese and gave me a taste; French goat-milk Pyrenees Basque Bluette. Imported through the French company Onetik, this blue amazed me. When trying blue cheeses, I often brace myself for a very sharp taste which is common to many varieties. The Pyrenees Basque, however, has a smooth, creamy complexity which won me over immediately. As Gordon pointed out, there’s a slight fruit taste hidden amongst the complexity of this cheese, and yes, I bought a wedge.
The reason I had gone to Rainbow on Thursday, was specifically to pick up some Saint-Félicien for our friend Stephanie, a writer & musician in Chico, who had fond memories of the cheese from when she had lived in France. I’d never tried Saint-Félicien, but in Stephanie’s e-mail, she had stated; “I haven’t had any since 2003 in France – they called it terrorist cheese because they said people who smuggled it back to the US ended up with such a stinky mess…” With that, I had to try it. If I could find it, I’d pick some up for our friend, and some for Kathy and myself. One call to Rainbow is all it took to locate some of this wonderful cheese.
Back at home, the only Saint-Félicien I could find in a book I have on French Cheeses is a Saint-Félicien De Lamastre, which is a soft raw goat milk cheese. The Saint-Félicien I purchased, however, is from milk which is both pasteurized and from cows. 
I don’t doubt that they are very similar cheeses, but now I’d love to try them very side by side. My guess is that as a soft cheese, for import purposes (aged less than 60 days), this cheese has to be from pasteurized milk. Slightly pungent, the cheese is incredibly creamy at room temperature (thus the little ceramic crock it is sold in), about the consistency of Nutella. Kathy enjoyed it, but I think I was the one who ate at least 70% of it (some for dinner and the rest the next morning for breakfast). Now you too can try it; it is (according to my book) seasonal, so call ahead to your cheese store to make sure they have some.
We’re off to Chico this weekend; a friend’s birthday party, have the cheese to deliver, and we also hope to drop by Pedrozo Dairy and Cheese Company in Orland, California, where there is kind of an “open house” this weekend thanks to the “Passport Weekend” tour along the Sierra Oro Farm Trail in the northern end of the Sacramento Valley in California. Expect a posting or two about that visit next week. Meanwhile, treat yourself; go try some cheeses which are new to you, and let us know about them in the comment section!
