La Maison du Brie de Meaux

Paris is where many of France’s most famous food items are sold and consumed, but the greater Paris area is also the source of one the country’s greatest agricultural products. To feast on one of the nation’s most famous cheeses at the source, you’ll have to head roughly an hour east of the capital. 

Known as “the king of cheeses,” Brie de Meaux has been produced in the Meaux area for more than a thousand years. Today, it’s a controlled product made from raw cow’s milk by 80 producers who make an estimated 2 million wheels each year. It’s one of France’s best-known culinary exports, and in 2016, local authorities created a museum dedicated to the product.

La Maison du Brie de Meaux spans exhibits that reveal the surrounding area’s natural environment, background on the area’s cows, the history of local cheese production, and how the city’s most famous product is made. There’s Brie art and advertisements, 3D displays, and of course a gift shop selling cheese, local agricultural products, and Brie-related souvenirs.

If you visit the museum on a Saturday, it’s also possible to take part in a Brie de Meaux tasting. English-speaking staff walk guests through plain Brie de Meaux (tasting notes: “It should taste like hazelnuts”), Brie de Meaux paired with local mustard, and a rare Brie Noir, Brie de Meaux that has been aged a minimum of six months, giving it a dark color, a dense texture and a concentrated, almost spicy aroma.