Saint Albray Cheese
I do not know any words in English — or any other language — that could come close to describing the way Saint Albray cheese arrives in the nose. Aromatic is far too dainty. Acrid is too derogatory. And pungent isn’t strong enough.
Something emanates from it — almost a physical presence — that fills the nose and then the mouth. On more than one occasion, it has caused me to cough, as if encountering a chemical spill. Through experimentation I found that it becomes more itself if left out of the fridge for an hour or so to warm up. The taste is much more mild than the smell; rich and complex. If you can make it through the shroud of stench that surrounds it, this cheese is exquisite.
At least it is to me. I’ve tried to share my enthusiasm for it with others, often to their horror. One or two have found it ‘interesting’ while politely declining a second bite, but most have looked at me as though I’ve tried to poison them. Well, we all have different tastes.
However horrendous this cheese smells, it is still made for some reason or other. Its fans can’t all be stupid or wrong.
And the same goes for all sorts of films and books and works of art. It’s easy to dismiss something that we don’t understand, or that seems repellent on its face. But the simple fact that an idea continues to be part of our culture — that people still make that cheese or sing that song or tell that story — tells us something important about our culture, something we might miss if we go with our initial assumptions.
Questions
What, for you, is the cultural equivalent of Saint Albray? Think of an artist or art work that others respect and appreciate but that has always repelled you for some reason? Can you imagine why other people like it?
Have you judged it unfairly? Has your judgment caused you to miss important aspects, or avoid certain situations that might have been enjoyable?
Do you feel like you have to rationally justify your aesthetic tastes, or are you comfortable following your intuition where it does and doesn’t lead you?
Have you ever felt intimidated by works of art or experiences that others find profound, but that seem inscrutable to you? Or that don’t affect you in any way?
Exercise
Go see art you don’t expect to like. Art that’s not your style.
Sit through a film by a director that you can’t stand. Go to a retrospective for a sculptor that’s always caused you to quicken your pace through that part of the museum.
Pick a well-known creative work or cultural phenomenon that you have dismissed in the past, and re-experience it. Find at least one redeeming and worthwhile aspect that you didn’t experience on first exposure.
The goal of this exercise is not to change your sense of taste, but to get you out of the comfort zone of your assumed preferences. You may discover something new, or you may not, just as in any adventure.
This may seem like a perverse way to indulge your dislikes, but there’s always the possibility of discovering the unexpected, glimpsing a nuance you hadn’t perceived before, finding what your well-developed tastes had kept hidden.
Think of it as an opportunity to exercise aesthetic empathy: imagine experiencing art through the minds of others, and pay close attention to what they might see or hear or taste in it that you don’t.
Postscript
In the interest of thoroughness, I attempted relive my own experiences as I was writing this. Unable to find any Saint Albray in the store’s case, I asked the cheesemonger, who informed me that they no longer carried it because they ended up throwing so much of it out — unsold! Quelle horreur!
She suggested Chimay as a substitute. I like their beer, so I thought I’d try it. The verdict: I think the monks should stick to beer. Their cheese was to Saint Albray as Velveeta is to an aged cheddar, as Silly Putty is to potter’s clay. Bland to the palate, and completely lacking the nasal intoxication that makes Saint Albray so affecting. (But don’t let that bias stop you. Maybe you’d like it, even though I don’t!)
My search continues. In the interim, the myth must suffice.
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