Charlemagne Food Quotes
Charlemagne was travelling and stopped at a bishop's residence at dinnertime:
"Now on that day, being the sixth day of the week, he was not willing to eat the flesh of beast or bird. The bishop, being by reason of the nature of the place unable to procure fish immediately, ordered some excellent cheese, white with fat, to be placed before him. Charles..... required nothing else, but taking up his knife and throwing away the mold, which seemed to him abominable, he ate the white of the cheese. Then the bishop, who was standing nearby like a servant, drew close and said 'Why do you do that, lord Emperor? You are throwing away the best part.' On the persuasion of the bishop, Charles..... put a piece of the mold in his mouth and slowly ate it and swallowed it like butter. Then, approving the bishop's advice, he said 'Very true, my good host,' and he added, 'Be sure to send me every year two cartloads of such cheeses.'"
From a biography of Charlemagne written by a monk at Saint Gall monastery in the late 9th century. (865? A.D.)
(Both lovers of Brie and Roquefort cheese claim the story is about their favorite cheese, but it was probably Roquefort cheese.)
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