Europeans have always been possessive of their recipes. But in 1411, the law got involved. A bluish cheese with green veins and a strong odor that went by the name Roquefort was starting to appear in areas of France outside of the southern region where the cheese was first discovered a century before. (Yes, discovered, after a different type of cheese molded beyond recognition). Under pressure from the small coterie of cheese makers, the French parliament issued a decree that only cheese produced in the region of the cheese’s origin could use the name Roquefort.

Today, the name Roquefort is still limited to curds produced in Southern France in dark, damp caves that facilitates growth of the specific type of