What is cheese?

I came to love cheese not by a thoughtful evaluation over many years, but by way of a tumble down a mountain and a piece of cheese at the end of the day. It was more like what the French would term a coup de foudre or love at first sight. I often bless the fact that my skiing ability is less than athletic, and having lost track of my partner and consequently managing to traverse the mountain, I trudged through the village of Meribel in Savoie, exhausted and hungry. I was drawn to the golden glow of the cheese shop and bought a nugget of Beaufort to nibble on my way back to the chalet. That delicious piece of cheese changed my life and my livelihood. Today Beaufort Chalet d’Alpage is still the signature cheese at La Fromagerie.