This one-liner of a title is a common joke between my husband and me whenever any cheese comes out. (cheese instead of jeez, in case it is not obvious) And around here, the cheese comes out a lot. Last week, I wrote a little about Muenster cheese in passing, but today, I really want to look at this more closely.
We learned that Muenster cheese comes from the German word "Münster" (if you ever need to type a letter with an umlaut - those two little dots over the vowels - you write it as the vowel followed by an e, as in muenster). It is a mild, creamy cheese with a salty rind common in Wisconsin. The American version of this cheese, much milder than the European version, actually comes from a cheese named after the town where it was created - Munster, France.
Now wait a minute. I know you are thinking this is a German thing, right? Well, actually it is. Munster, the town in France, is located in the far eastern section of France in the area called Alsace of the famed Alsace-Lorraine region. This region of France has changed hands back and forth over the generations from France to Germany and back again. The town itself is named after a little abbey and church from the 7th century where the cheese was first made - hence, Münster, as we discussed Friday as being a church or monastery. Once France owned the towns again, almost all "Germanization" of the names was dropped. So places like Münster, Günsbach, Mülhausen, and (slightly differently on the variation here) Gebweiler became Munster, Gunsbach, Mulhouse, and Guebwiller. The town has only around 5,000 inhabitants, but it is still producing the famous cheese in its abbey. The region actually has a "Cheese Road" like the German Fairy Tale Road that I mentioned in the fall. You can go from one little village to the next, sampling the fare at country inns, and of course tasting all the local variations of the Munster cheese.
The region was first considered a French province in the mid 1600s after being annexed from the Germanic region of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 1800s, there was much turmoil in the region with many of the people fleeing to Austria, Switzerland and even the US. By 1871, due to France's loss in the Franco-Prussian War, it was again under German rule. After World War I, it was returned to France only to be owned again by Germany from 1940 - 1945 during World War II. And as you can guess, it went back to being French after World War II.
Today, they speak the official language of their country, France, but at least 40% of the population also speak the original German dialect of Alsatian. Although feelings ran strongly after the war, now the people are enjoying a resurgence of local identity. Alsatian is again being taught voluntarily in the schools in addition to German as early as kindergarten. Tourism is becoming a major source of income for the region along with its ample vineyards for the coveted wine products made in the area and the region's hops harvests for the beer breweries. Due to five centuries of war, there are numerous castles, which although romantic and picturesque today, served as military fortifications over the centuries. And for war history buffs, the place is ripe with information. Its mountains offer beautiful summer scenery and decent winter skiing. Strasbourg, the major seat in Alsace, is literally on the border with Germany and shares views across the Rhine River. Forestry and forest products make up a portion of the area's economy, and Mulhouse is a major industrial area producing the Peugeot automobile for Europe. And then there is, of course, the cheese. Cheese, that's good!
The word for today is cheese: der Käse (kay zeh).
The question for today is "So is there a Münster, Germany, too?"
Bis bald,
Frau Spitzer
