The best American equivalent for Roquefort is cave aged, congealed vomit. Maybe my palette isn't refined enough to enjoy it, or perhaps my taste buds aren't quite dead yet.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8400737
Reuters, Friday March 13 2009
* U.S., EU working on possible fix to EU ban on U.S. beef
* U.S. will hold off on new duties on EU goods for one month
* Duties had been set to take effect March 23
* Settlement would benefit U.S. farmers, but no details given (Adds quote from EU Trade Commissioner)
By Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) - The United States will hold off on new retaliatory duties for European products while the two countries work on a possible fix to a dispute over beef trade that dates back to the 1980s, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Thursday.
The duties, set to take effect on March 23, will be held back for a month while discussions on a "possible interim solution" take place, USTR spokeswoman Nefeterius McPherson said in a statement.
"The settlement will provide benefits for U.S. beef producers, but it would not be appropriate for me to get into any more details about an ongoing negotiation," McPherson told Reuters.
Several issues remain to be resolved in the discussions, she said. "USTR has decided to delay the trade action in order to give this process every possibility of success," she said.
European Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton welcome the USTR decision to postpone sanctions.
"The EU and U.S. are engaged in negotiations to find a way forward on this issue, and I am confident we will find a solution very soon," Ashton said in a statement. An EU spokesman said Ashton was heading to Washington on Monday for talks with Obama administration officials and key members of Congress.
A spokesman for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association declined to comment on Thursday.
The beef ban is one of the oldest and most famous sources of trade friction between the farm trade superpowers. The EU also bans U.S. chicken treated with a bacteria-killing chlorine rinse, and genetically modified crops like corn and rice.
On Thursday, the EU slapped tariffs on U.S. biodiesel exports which it says are dumped and subsidized, hurting European producers. [ID:nNLC572079]
The European Union banned U.S. and Canadian beef in 1988 because of fears growth hormones fed to cattle by U.S. and Canadian farmers could cause cancer.
The United States and Canada complained to the World Trade Organization, which agreed the ban was not supported by scientific studies. The WTO battle has continued.
The United States was allowed to impose sanctions worth $116.8 million per year on EU goods starting in July 1999.
The Bush administration changed the list of products facing duties just before leaving office in January, adding meat, chewing gum, chocolate, certain jams, and some fruit.
Mineral water and chestnuts from France were added, and the duties on Roquefort cheese were to be hiked to 300 percent.
That prompted outrage from French producers and U.S. consumers with a taste for the already-pricey imports.
The new action was slated to take effect March 23. The EU had threatened to challenge the move at the WTO.
But the USTR's office said it would delay the new tariffs until April 23 to allow for renewed negotiations.
More than a dozen goods were slated to be dropped from the list, including tomatoes, onions and yarn. Those items will proceed to be dropped as of March 23 to respect sales made since Jan. 15, the USTR's office said.
In written replies to questions from the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, USTR-designee Ron Kirk said officials were in discussions with the EU "that could result in at least an interim solution" to the beef dispute.
"I support these efforts, and will take whatever steps are necessary to achieve a prompt resolution of this dispute," Kirk said. (Editing by Christian Wiessner, Richard Chang and Carol Bishopric)

Great. Did I get outdated that quickly? EL

re roquefort: say it ain't so. Is life worth living with roquefort?

zut alors!

Kitkat: Freudian slip there? I definitely prefer the more midrange blues, and take credit for the first comment up there - I clicked "post" and noticed my info wasn't following me around on the form - damn cookies. Looking in WIkipedia, Roquefort is known for having a notable butyric acid taste. This acid "is found in rancid butter, parmesan cheese, vomit, and body odor and has an unpleasant smell and acrid taste, with a sweetish aftertaste (similar to ether)." Why pay a 300% tariff for this cheese when there is plenty of free B.O. around?

The delay was actually announced yesterday. You need to subscribe to the Cheese Feed; I get 24 hour a day updates sent to my cell phone.

I thought with Maytag, Point Reyes, and other domestic cheeses coming on the scene the import of Roquefort would have dwindled to nothing years ago. I also find it interesting that the article posted above refers to Europe as a country.

Not Freudian, just stupidity in not reading what I type. Of course I meant without

Cheese Feed? Where is this wondrous thing!

a notable butyric acid taste. This acid "is found in rancid butter, parmesan cheese, vomit, and ...

Axe Body Spray

I was just kidding about the Cheese Feed. I got that news elsewhere. Then I realized that I actually DO have some cheese feeds in my feed list.

Everything cheese from the NYT
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cheese/index.html

Cheese from the Left Coast:
http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=7be096b77eb46880babae805bc7bfe29

Once in a while I go to the most wonderful place on Earth:
Fromage.Com
It's like cheese porn, you know, in a good way.

Owl,
Ever hear of "fromunda" cheese?

Cheese pr0n can only be good.

I didn't realize that the NYT had a cheese index.

Someday, I hope to learn enough to be a cheese snob. That was coming along nicely, when I lived only an hour from Zingerman's.

Nothing turns a recession into a depression like a trade war.

I don't remember if Smoot-Hawley had a cheese provision, but I imagine it did.

Fl Rob, laughing. I personally totally enjoy middle school humor!

PCB, hermit fromunda would be cave-aged, oui?

jl,
Most likely.

I find it interesting that when the U.S. of A. proposes or, God forbid enacts, a tariff on imported goods or says that steel used on our Stimulus Construction be made in the U.S., the rest of the world and a goodly portion of our citizens cry "Foul," yet when other countries do the same, like Japan banning U.S. beef because there was a Mad Cow in Colorado five years ago, or French farmers blockading Paris with their tractors to stop U.S. imports, we seem to just nod our heads. Which is it - are we all going to work towards a global economy or are we going to try to protect whatever we hold dear?

Which is it - are we all going to work towards a global economy or are we going to try to protect whatever we hold dear?

Yes.

Whoa up there, pardner. (R-i-E, it's you I'm talkin' to.)

Japan banned U.S. beef in 2003 after BSE was found in a cow in Washington, which is the far west midwest, not in Colorado.

Our cows aren't mad, but they do get a little miffed when they read things like this.

are we going to try to protect whatever we hold dear?

This issue stems from the banning of the importation of hormone-laced beef in 1999. So hormone-laced beef is what we as Americans hold dear?

Here's what I want: natural American beef and delicious natural unpasteurized French cheese. What kind of logic is that for us as citizens – buy our crap or we won't let our citizens buy your quality products. Obnoxious American economic imperialism at its best.

Bucky, I'm sorry I falsely impugned Colorado cattle. I remembered that one case and I just don't think Washington state and cattle.

OMG, as noted in the article you posted previously, the EU beef ban was not upheld by the W.T.O. because it was not supported scientifically. I know, what's science got to do with it when we KNOW the stuff can't be good.

Lack of sufficient scientific evidence to support a political issue is not the same thing as truth. Hormones is food become hormones in humans and they can have a profound effect on people especially children. Who would fund such research? Beef producers? I think not. The government who has a political interest in selling beef overseas? No. Plus remember, you can lead a whore to water, but you can't make her moan.

R-i-E - Not to worry. Just upholding the honor of Colorado herefords.

I'm actually sort of caught in the middle on this, personally. I had an uncle (a former cattle rancher, btw) who died in 2006 of CJD. The link between BSE and CJD isn't absolutely established, but is pretty strongly suspected and the diseases are clearly related.

And Colorado is full of Chronic Wasting Disease in wild deer and elk (and, most recently, a couple of moose.)

It is scary stuff, to be sure. I don't blame the Japanese for their reaction.

Can't scientifically prove a negative.

RiE, I get you. The issue people aren't digesting is that if Euros don't like our juiced-up beef, they don't have to buy it. But their gummints prevent them from making the choice either way, and stifle the market in the process. At least here, you still have the choice to buy Roquefort, however unsavory that might be.

Science rarely proves anything. That's newspaper-talk. In science when you want to prove something positive the best you can do is reject the null hypothesis that it is false with a certain probability of error.

For further explanation, I am available for an hourly consulting fee which may be paid in cash, cognac, Solera, French cheese, or anecdotes. Hugs are no longer considered currency by the WTO, nor are backrubs or flattery.

Those European governments are elected by people who are horrified at the thought of artificial hormones in American beef, and who don't trust our inspection system for BSE (neither do I, actually).

Overthrowing democratically elected governments in the name of the same free market that gave us AIG is not what you meant, is it, fizzy?

Would someone who uses fewer words than Bird tell me what BSE and CJD are?

Uhhhh, let's see how few words I can use off the top of my head:
BSE = Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis
CJD = Creudtsfeld-Jacob Disease

BSE is a nasty cow disease that leads to CJD, a very, very nasty human disease. See the BBC news archives, under "Mad Cow Disease" if you want to know more.

Very scary stuff.

Eve,

BSE: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease)

CJD: Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease (fundamentally the same disease when contracted by a human; not proven that it can be contracted by eating beef that had BSE, but strongly suspected that it can)

Chronic Wasting Disease: what BSE is called when contracted by wild game.

That's over-simplified. If Abigail Carlson is reading along, she can likely offer a better explanation, simply.

Thanks y'all. I figured Mad Cow (I miss Boston Legal) was the ultimate topic, but couldn't fit the acronyms together. (Spongiform....eeeew)

So, that's why the ARC asks about Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease before I can give blood.

Bucky,
I think you nailed it with the explanations.

I've posted this before, but the ARC still won't let me donate blood and its been 25+ years since I had beef in the UK.

So, you've pretty much got it right (and I'm not an expert, so I wouldn't give my input much more weight), but BSE and CJD are both diseases caused by prions. Prions are a type of protein that is able to misform in a way that causes other prion proteins to misform as well, leading to the disease. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is so named because in these diseases, the brain ends up looking like a sponge. Prion diseases are considered communicable, infectious diseases, and modes of transmission for at least some of them are well documented. The human prion diseases that I’m aware of are Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome, fatal familial insomnia and kuru.

The disease connected with BSE in humans is not actually Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, but rather variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). The connection between BSE and vCJD, as I understand it, is relatively strong, though I don’t know enough about the data to tell you how well established it is. The little I’ve seen is pretty persuasive, and the relationship is strong enough that I wouldn’t ever eat beef from a cow with BSE.

As for the ARC restrictions on blood, they’ve changed recently, I know that much. I was unable to give for a long time on account of having lived in France, but last fall they told me I was eligible again, so I would check.

Prions are a type of protein that is able to misform in a way that causes other prion proteins to misform as well, leading to the disease.

Abigail, I love it when you talk like that.

Fatal familial insomnia. I'd forgotten about that one. Read a fascinating (and very, very scary) book about that a few years back. _The Family that Couldn't Sleep : a medical mystery _ by D. T. Max.

Between that and the BBC coverage of Mad Cow a few years back, I don't eat ground beef unless it comes from a closed herd (like Hickory Chance Farm) and is slaughtered properly.

Yes, I'll eat raw eggs and sushi, but not a McDonald's hamburger.