Undefined Fine Food

If there is something one is not supposed to pinch pennies about, it's cheese. Money spent on good quality cheese is hardly ever wasted. Of course, we all have our cheese dealer of trust, but we are also hard-working members of our society, and hence not always able to walk this extra mile. Fortunately, ordinary supermarkets started to introduce fine food products on their shelves, which they call Sélection or - to keep things simple - Fine Food, such as Coop does.

The other day, Toño had to make a such compromise. However, he did well by choosing Coop's Brie from the Kartause Ittingen, a former monastery of the Carthusian order.



As a so called company with a social conscience, Coop tries to justify the immorally exuberant price with a lavish packaging and a booklet, which praises the heritage of the cheese and its special position in the pantheon of food.

The booklet also mentioned that the cheese is at its best in both texture and flavour three weeks after production. Of course, I immediately checked the wrapper. But all I could find, was the latest date of sale and the one for consumption.

For heaven's sake! How I'm supposed to determine the climax of the cheese based on this flawed information?

Of course, I contacted Coop's customer service. They promptly asked back for the exact dates printed on package, but remained silent ever since. This was more than three weeks ago. We are now definitely beyond the pinnacle of both the cheese and a decent customer service.