Marie-Anne Cantin, a life dedicated to defending and promoting cheese heritage
She loved all cheeses, but confessed to a particular affection for Brie, Camembert and above all Coulommiers for its generosity. Marie-Anne Cantin, a great cheese refiner, died on February 10 at the age of 75.
Since the announcement of her death, tributes have been pouring in. Chefs de cuisine, floor managers and chefs de rang have all hailed her as a grande dame of creamery, cheese-making, maturing and agricultural advocacy. For some, she was " La Grande Dame " of cheeses, for others "joie de vivre and gouaille incarnate "; " a sunny, passionate figure " and represented " an unrivalled know-how that she was careful to pass on ". The same was true of private customers and tourists, who praised her magnificent work in promoting all cheeses, her attentiveness, her passion, her big heart and her smile.
As a child, she wanted to be a hairdresser. In one of her many social networking videos, she emphasized that hairdressing was a beautiful profession. But her parents didn't think so, and urged her to get involved in the family business, founded in 1950. By her own admission, she was a bit of a rebel, but in reality, she loved playing " cheese saleswoman " while accompanying her father, Christian, on tour.at the age of 25, she took over the family business with her husband Antoine Dias.
Tirelessly, for 50 years, Marie-Anne Cantin criss-crossed France in search of new cheeses or to greet those she was referencing. Tirelessly, for 50 years, she looked after "her little babies", the cheeses she matured in the basement cellars of her boutique on rue du Champ de Mars in Paris. For 50 years, she tirelessly defended the raw-milk cheeses she felt were in danger, even going so far as to create the ARTFF (Association pour le respect des traditions fromagères françaises). Marie-Anne Cantin was, and will remain, a great ambassador for cheese-making know-how and the terroirs of France.
