French Fromagier

There is a patience to good cheese, a slow ripening that a French kitchen always made room for, and this little cabinet was built to watch over it. Found in Lille and made in the 20th century, it is a small painted fromagier, its front and sides set with fine mesh, two shelves within, a latch to keep it closed and a little handle on top for carrying. The mesh let the air drift through so the cheese could breathe and soften in its own time, kept safe from the flies but never quite shut away from the kitchen it belonged to. Sylvie keeps it on the counter with a wedge of cheese and a few grapes behind the mesh, a whole small larder standing in the corner of the kitchen.