A cooperative model of tasting: Comté cheese and the jury terroir

ABSTRACT

This article examines the “tasting place” practices of the jury terroir: a tasting panel consisting of trained, volunteer tasters from the Comté chain and the wider Franche-Comté region of eastern France, who have met under the direction of food scientist Florence Bérodier for the past twenty-five years in order to describe the sensory characteristics of Comté cheese. Drawing from participant observation and interview research, the jury is approached as a ritual practice in order to examine the social and collaborative dimensions of sensory perception. The article focuses on the rules and structures of the jury’s mise en commun, or the moments when participants share sensory perceptions, and argues that they reflect and maintain, first, a sense of interrelation that transcends mundane social hierarchies and, second, the civic values and practices of Comté’s robust cooperative structure.

KEYWORDS:

• Sensory perception
• tasting panels
• ritual
• taste
• jury terroir
• Comté cheese

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

A grant provided by the Comité Interprofessionnel de Gestion du Comté (CIGC) covered travel and transcription costs for this research.

Notes on contributors

Christy Shields-Argelès

Christy Shields-Argelès is a Franco-American food anthropologist currently working on the "tasting place" practices and languages of the Comté cheese chain.