A chic and cheesy event with François Robin

5th July 2022, Singapore – After 2 years of online events, on the Home of Cheese Instagram page, the “Europe, Home of Cheese” event is finally back in action and successfully hosted physically at BaRouv, the chic rooftop venue at Scarlet hotel on 30th June.

Inspired with the theme “Anywhere”, they encouraged the audience to enjoy French cheese easily, wherever they are! Whether it’s for nibbles at a party, part of a healthy lunchbox at the office or leisurely grazing at a garden picnic, nothing quite beats the diversity of French cheese. Hard, soft, semi-hard, blue, washed rind or processed, there’s something to suit everyone’s palate, for every occasion, anywhere!

This year, it was a fun and delightful experience for the guests to partake the physical event. It was also a great honour to have the world-famous cheesemonger and Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF), François Robin, coming all the way from France to meet with medias and foodie influencers. When it comes to French cheeses – Brie, Mimolette, Bleu d’Auvergne, Triple Crème, Époisses, Camembert and Emmental, people would immediately relate the terms ‘high-quality’, ‘diverse’ and ‘aromatic’. To portray the versatility of the cheeses, there were 3 workshops to introduce the gourmet wonders of cheeses. These workshops provided the audience the insights of cutting techniques, pairing advice based on intensity of the cheeses, how to choose a complementing variety of French cheese, and how to prepare snacks that are perfect Anywhere.

They spoke with François before the event and after 2 long years of conducting the events online, the cheesemonger was frenzied and excited about meeting the audience in real. When asked about the inspiration behind the 2 recipes, the first thing that came to his mind was to incorporate cheese into the multicultural lifestyle of Singaporeans and their local recipes. François highlighted that “when you think about cheese and wine, you’ll automatically think of France and when it comes to Singapore, you immediately think of food.”“when you think about cheese and wine, you’ll automatically think of France and when it comes to Singapore, you immediately think of food.” François was confident that the crowd would be immensely appreciative of the inclusion of high-quality French cheeses into local recipes and the people would be pleasantly surprised with the innovative cheesy combinations.

To present that cheeses can be indeed enjoyed and consumed anywhere, François started off the first workshop by presenting with a special Spring Roll “Office Takeaway”. Between 2 soft cheese options – Brie and St Albray, the attendees were able to select their cheeses and preferred pairings such as mint, coriander, vermicelli to include in their rolls. The concept of putting French cheeses in this Asian street food was really intriguing to the participants as they have never thought of such combination before. Michelle from @bible10 claimed, “the recipe was so unique and easy to prepare that I would prepare it at home so I can bring it out to consume it any where I go!”

Participants were thrilled to participate to the workshops as they have been continuously following the campaign since its launch in 2020 but due to Covid-19 restrictions, the events were only held online and they were not able to meet in person. Pooja from @glow_diaries_ shared, “There is nothing more pleasurable than to have the personal touch to interact with our friends and get to enjoy the French cheeses with the beautiful skyline of Singapore. Home of Cheese literally brought the concept ‘Anywhere’ to life!”

All in all, cheese pairings were customised as per one’s taste and now, the participants have turned into a French cheese pairing connoisseur, they literally could enjoy various food choices anywhere with indulgence.