Paris (AFP)

"A good taste, balanced and made by a craftsman": Bernard Antony, "breeder of cheeses" for the world's elite and starred tables, advocates for raw milk, even for babies, in a "uniform" and "sanitized" world ".

"Cheese", a book written by food historian and sociologist Katherine Khodorowsky that has just appeared in the Ducasse edition, retraces the 40-year career of this internationally renowned cheese refiner, who tells the story of the cheese season. harmony of associations with condiments, the tasting ceremony, the geometry of the cut and the agreements, sometimes surprising, as with whiskey, sake or coffee.

"We reach a certain age, we have to leave a mark With this book I would like to defend cheese made from raw milk, cheese must always be defended because the world is becoming ordinary", confides to AFP Bernard Antony, 76 .

The man "raises" on the family farm in the small Alsatian village of Vieux-Ferrette cheeses from all over France, but also from Switzerland, Germany and England, who then land on the tables of crowned heads or starred restaurants. He deplores this world "so sanitized" where only 10% of French cheeses are raw milk.

"In the old days, we did not have doctors, we ate what we had and we were never sick." Today, we need medicines for young children because everything is too sanitized. have no right to play on the land, in the sand, "he says.

And doctors who advise against raw milk to children under 5 years? "It's a pipe, it's totally stupid", reacts Mr. Antony, saying that his children and grandchildren began to eat "right now".

According to health authorities' recommendations, raw milk cheeses should not be eaten by young children, who are more vulnerable to harmful bacteria (E. coli, listeria, salmonella ...) that may be present in this type of cheese.

And if children do not like cheeses with a strong taste, "it's the fault of the parents" who do not give them by saying "it's too much for you".

- County, "my tarte Tatin" -

He himself, a farmer's son who left school at age 14, never ate cheese at table because it was too expensive for the family.

As a traveling trader, he "sells brassieres", industrial cheeses as well, before embarking on refining as a disciple of the great Parisian master-cheese maker of the time, Pierre Androuët.

"As I did not know anything, it was easy to learn, I'm like a self-taught chef," he says.

If three-star chefs such as Alain Ducasse or Alain Passard or great winemakers praise his counties of anthology and other Mont d'Or or mellow goats, he remains modest: "my cheeses are not the best, they are different".

The recipe for refining the county was born after an error.

"When I started selling cheese, I bought far too much county, it got old, it was a mistake like tarte Tatin, an error to me, to have bought too much and let it age too long".

"When Alain Ducasse's sommelier tasted it, he said + it's something for my chef +," he continues.

This is how the collaboration between the Alsatian craftsman and one of the most starred chefs in the world was born in the 1990s. Others will follow.

Whether on a table of Ducasse or at home, the cheeses must be served on a wooden tray and not on a plate, the book recalls. Each form has its cutting logic: a slice of Roquefort is not cut in the same way as a slice of Ossau-Iraty.

With this advice from the Master Refiner: it is better to eat only cheese to enjoy it well and not at the end of the meal. And "wine, you must!" Of white. "The red is quite tannic and crushes a little cheese and white wine accompanies them".

© 2019 AFP