On the Cheese Course, and Where It Belongs

The French place cheese before dessert. The British place it after. Each nation regards the other's practice as evidence of a deeper civilizational failing, and both positions have entirely respectable arguments behind them.

The French case is about wine. The red on the table is still red, still open, still a red wine's proper companion, and cheese extends its life for another half hour. Put dessert first and you have introduced sugar, after which the red tastes thin and metallic, and the last of the bottle is spoiled.

The British case is about arrival. Cheese with port at the end is a settling, a slowing, a signal that nobody need go anywhere. It is a better final impression than a sweet, and it holds a table together past the hour when tables usually dissolve.

I have taken both positions in the same week and defended each with total conviction.

Decide by the wine. If a red worth finishing is still on the table, cheese first. If the evening should keep going and the port is out, cheese last. Anyone who tells you there is only one answer has been to fewer dinners than they claim.