The nuances of cuisine provide lessons for all students studying the cultures of foreign languages, but French students are confronted by a particular challenge—the 400 distinct cheeses that the French consider fundamental to their national cuisine.

Students of the French Club could only take a small taste of numerous list in their cultural cheese tasting event.

French professor Martine Bell supplied the club with nine types of cheese ranging from different regions of France. According to Bell, cheese is a complex aspect of cuisine, comparable to wine.

The French notion of terroir explains that products like wine and cheese attribute their most subtle flavors to all the factors of the environment in which they grow, making a particular region’s, or even village’s, cheese distinct from another.

“The French take this very seriously,” Bell said. “You could say they are all crafted locally, so the local flavors come out in their fridge.”

Ben Hinton, graduate student in international students and secretary of the French Club, said cheese is a serious part of being French.

“President Charles deGaulle said, ‘How can I govern a country of 400 different cheeses,'” Hinton said. “It goes to show that people use cheese as a type of way to identify with who they are and where they come from. It’s not just tasting.”

Fine cheese is catching on in the United States, but according to Bell, Americans are enjoying it in backwards fashion.

“In France, we finish our meal with some cheese,” Bell said. “We usually eat it after our entrée and right before you.”

The French Club will meet Nov. 16 in Withers 331. Although the club will not feature fine cheeses at their next event, Rhian Mayhew, junior in biological sciences, said anyone is free to join.

“We just want to celebrate and learn more about French culture in a non-academic, social setting,” Mayhew said.