There are many things I thought were fancy when I was growing up. The question is did the elegance or fanciness hold up to maturity? Hold up to a developing mind? Sometimes not, sometimes yes the classiness help up to my scrutiny. For instance, cheese was something I noticed right away when I was little. We were a Tillamook cheese household. There was usually a brick of this cheese in the refrigerator. My Mother's mother also had a big hunk of this cheese in the refrigerator. Sometimes grandpa left a big sharp knife sticking in it. Other households didn’t have this cheese in their refrigerators very often. I looked. My mom grew up around Tillamook County so I figure that this is a loyalty to this cheese. It is good cheese.
My mother though had a special cheese in the fridge that was only hers. No one else was supposed to eat it. It was Laughing Cow cheese. It came in little balsam wood round with the picture of a laughing cow on top. There were individually foil wrapped wedges with the pictures of the cow on it. I still think it is a special cheese out of a sense of loyalty to my Mother. She still eats it.
We moved into a new house around the time I was in first grade. My parents had a housewarming party. This was the only party they ever had in the eighteen years they were together. The dining room table was spread with a feast. I think there was chips and dip and a vegetable tray. But more importantly there was cheese and crackers tray. I believe the cheese was brie. I thought brie was so fancy and different. I don’t remember them buying brie ever again but maybe they did on rare occasions. I did notice at other adult parties brie had a place on most of the food tables. When I was older and in college brie and bread is what I took to potlucks if I didn’t cook anything.
I don’t know that I loved brie. Brie just equated celebrations for me growing up. I bought brie and took this picture of it. (Not a fancy photo I know). I placed it on the table for a bead gathering at my house. This brand of brie is pretty good. It had a strong musty flavor. It had a kick. It was almost stinky. Stinky cheese is a revered thing in my life now. Has brie held up to the fancy standard? Do I still think it is fancy? No its not fancy anymore. Its still good but not elegant. It is found in the nicer part of the store. But for a cheese department it isn’t a stretch to buy brie. It can be found everywhere. Where as Le Grande Basque or Taleggio isn’t going to be found in the regular cheese department of Safeway or Fred Meyer. And most likely not in the nicer part of those stores. Though times are changing for artisanal cheeses.