Got some gruyere at the store. Never had it. I love cheese. Opened it up and got punched by a strong funk. Was excited for strong flavor. Tried it and it was nothing like the smell. It’s mild. Good, but not at all what I expected based on the smell. It’s somewhere between parmesan and mozzarella. I like it but the difference between opening package and tasting was weird.
Isn’t it fancy Swiss cheese?
Depends. If you get Gruyere in the US, there’s zero relation to Switzerland there. The US declared gruyere a generic name and so its Swiss or French name protections are void there and thus no guarantee about origin is made.
In the EU there’s the difference between (Swiss) Gruyere and French Gruyere which are quite different according to Wikipedia.
Thanks for this great answer! I was thinking about swiss-style (like with the holes) and didn’t even consider that some cheese might be imported from actual Switzerland!
Not sure sure about about fancy, but yes, it’s Swiss cheese. It originated in a part of Switzerland, which also has a museum dedicated to the work of H.R. Giger, the guy who designed the Alien in the film of the same name. Some of his art is… weird. There’s an 8ft tall Alien on the third floor.
Wasn’t his art inspired by a psychedelic trip of some kind?
Can’t find him saying it outright but this is interesting:
SECONDS: What is the relationship of your art to psychedelia? GIGER: I think there’s a relationship. Not so in the colors but I have some older works that look very psychedelic. SECONDS: What have drugs done for the art world? GIGER: You know, drugs are forbidden in Switzerland. Even psychedelic drugs that open you up are forbidden. LSD was invented by Albert Hoffman, who is Swiss. He had his first psychedelic experience on a bicycle, after accidentally getting some LSD on his fingers. He didn’t know what he had discovered. He was looking for something that would help women in labor. He changed the world. Many artists symbolize the psychedelic experience with a bicycle. This man is now 88 years old. I met him about six months ago. He’s very healthy and intelligent. Each day, he hangs upside down with his wife for half an hour, like a bat, in gravity boots. SECONDS: You know Timothy Leary too, right? GIGER: Yes, but not too well. When he was in Switzerland, he was looking for a place to hide because they wanted to put him in jail. My father was a pharmacist and knew Leary was in trouble. He was not very excited about Leary being in Switzerland, so I didn’t tell him I was trying to get help for him. He wouldn’t have been pleased.