As a french, and also cheese lover. Yes, cheese is absolutely alive.
And one thing I love about "real" cheese is variation. Depending on the season, conditions,... and chance, you get cheese that is different. Not always great, sometimes I am disappointed, but there are other occasions where the result is so good that it is well worth the occasional disappointment. Industrial cheese is boring, it is never bad, but it is never good either.
As for being sick. I never got sick with cheese, despite eating cheese on a daily basis. And I have eaten cheese that is way after its "use by" date, cheese with the "wrong" mold, cheese strong enough to numb the tongue after eating a tip of a knife worth, cheese I forgot until smell alerted me of its presence,... and all that raw milk. I didn't try the kind with maggots yet though.
I know that cheese borne diseases exist, but overall, for how alive it is, cheese is surprisingly safe. In fact, that's the big idea with cheese. It is full of bacteria and molds that we know are safe, and these tend to outcompete the pathogenic ones.
And one thing I love about "real" cheese is variation. Depending on the season, conditions,... and chance, you get cheese that is different. Not always great, sometimes I am disappointed, but there are other occasions where the result is so good that it is well worth the occasional disappointment. Industrial cheese is boring, it is never bad, but it is never good either.
As for being sick. I never got sick with cheese, despite eating cheese on a daily basis. And I have eaten cheese that is way after its "use by" date, cheese with the "wrong" mold, cheese strong enough to numb the tongue after eating a tip of a knife worth, cheese I forgot until smell alerted me of its presence,... and all that raw milk. I didn't try the kind with maggots yet though.
I know that cheese borne diseases exist, but overall, for how alive it is, cheese is surprisingly safe. In fact, that's the big idea with cheese. It is full of bacteria and molds that we know are safe, and these tend to outcompete the pathogenic ones.