All cheese starts out as milk. Most French cheese comes from cow's milk, but lots is made from goat's milk or sheep's milk too. To make cheese, cheesemakers warm the milk and add a special ingredient that makes it separate into solid bits (curds) and liquid (whey). The curds become cheese.
Each cheese gets its flavour from where it is made. The grass the cows or goats eat, the air in the cellar where the cheese is stored, even the tiny moulds growing on the rind - all of these change the taste. Two cheeses made in the same way but in different villages can taste totally different.
Some French cheeses are aged for years before they are sold. Camembert is soft, white and creamy - it only takes a few weeks. Comt茅 is hard, golden and nutty - it can age for two years or more. Roquefort, a blue cheese, is matured in special caves where blue mould turns the inside into a spotted, marble-like pattern.
In France, cheese is usually eaten after the main meal and before dessert. People often try several different cheeses on the same plate, with bread or fruit. There is a famous saying that 'a meal without cheese is like a day without sunshine'.