Coronavirus took the cheese.
It infected the trucks that deliver the cheese.
First toilet paper, then pasta. And now cheese is becoming harder to buy–more specifically the cheese used for raclette and fondue, which many French and Swiss people consider to be one of their favorite national dishes.
As the cold weather sets in, and with people mostly in their homes, sales have rocketed for both the cheese and the equipment–leading to the question; how best to eat both, in the age of social distancing?
Most cheeses haven’t fared well in the pandemic
The pandemic hasn’t been kind to all cheeses.
Many cheese makers have suffered from the closure of restaurants, cafés and school canteens around the world. In June, cheese makers, from French brie to British stilton were suffering from a decrease in sales of up to 30%.
In the U.S. in November, Bloomberg reported on a plunge in cheese prices as restaurants from California to New York have been forced to close. Some wholesale cheddar prices have fallen more than 40% in November and cheese block prices–which are usually used for cheese plates and party platters–have declined 13% this year to about $1.66 a pound.
Other cheeses, however, have thrived. During the first lockdown, people sought out more processed cheese, looking for products which lasted longer in the fridge. And new ones have even been discovered, like the one in Vosges in France when rinds were accidentally left in the fridge.
Again, I hate to keep stating the obvious, but it is not actually the virus or the alleged “pandemic” that ruined the cheese industry. It was the actions of the government, which banned free enterprise.
The virus didn’t take the cheese. Even if everything they say is true, the virus only killed people in nursing homes who were older than the average life expectancy. It did nothing to cheese and it had no plan to.