The Roquefort legend

Invented by accident or by love?
Well, let’s face it, if you believe in fairy tales, the legend of the little shepherd in love should be enough for you: on seeing his beloved, he forgets his snack at the bottom of a cave, only to find it covered in mold some time later. After all, why not? Clumsiness could be the source of great discoveries.

What’s certain is that Roquefort cheese goes back a long way! In the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder mentioned the existence of a blue cheese in the region. The great Charlemagne himself is said to have tasted it during a stopover in Vabres. And the emperor is said to have appreciated it (though it must be said that he would have tasted all the great names in cheese). Louis XIV liked it and Diderot awarded it the title of roi des fromages! In short, nothing but “people”. And that, too, is its legend: this little cheese is a celebrity who willingly invites himself to the greatest tables and to the tables of the greatest!

The earliest known mention of Roquefort in the Cartulaire de l’Abbaye de Conques dates back to 1070. Very quickly, what preoccupied roquefort manufacturers was conserving manufacturing rights. In the early 15th century, Charles VI granted the village’s inhabitants, by royal privilege, the exclusivity of ripening roquefort cheese. This privilege was confirmed again in 1666 by the Parliament of Toulouse. Finally, in 1925, roquefort was the first cheese to obtain an Appellation d’Origine and today benefits from an Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée guaranteeing the product’s provenance.