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Located just a block away from  La Grande Épicerie  in Saint Germain,  la Ferme d'Alexandre  doesn't feel "off the beaten path," but I wanted to share it with you anyway. I've come to love this place, not only for their fabulous cheese selection, but for the kindness and knowledge of  the owner Alex, and the entire staff. I shop here every week to  buy fromage for the French cheese workshop we offer at Paris by Mouth, so I've gotten to know them and what they offer very well. And if you follow me on Instagram , you've most likely seen many of their cheeses and their beautiful  blue and gold tile floor ! They always have some interesting sheep milk cheeses from the Pyrénées and right now their goat cheese section is amazing! You can also find the last raw milk farmer produced  Époisses  in France here, as well as a handful of delicious Italian cheeses. And in addition to cheese, there is a good selection of charcuterie, unpasteurized butter...

Last week France feted its National Day of Cheese , a day I love to celebrate. (yeah...who am I kidding...I celebrate French cheese pretty much every day!) But it got me thinking about the fromageries here in Paris. There are a handful of famous fromagères and  fromagers in the city who are lauded over and over, but what about the minor players? What about the small, off the beaten path cheese shops? What about the passionate cheesemongers with only a few staff members who take precious time off from their already busy schedules to visit farms and find small producers so they can offer new and interesting cheese and dairy to their customers? Let's talk about them. And let's support them! And there is a lot to talk about! I've met classical musicians, bankers and accountants who left their careers to become cheesemongers and to open up their own cheese shops, and there's even  an actual dairy  in Paris now. I see more and more young people buying up and breathing...