No, these aren't families who survive all year round on nothing but cheese (although that does sound like an appealing lifestyle) it's the families that the cheeses themselves belong to. There are hundreds of different cheeses in France, nobody can quite agree on a number, since many cheeses have regional variations of the same basic recipe, but its generally agreed to be over a thousand. But one thing that is agreed is that there are eight different types of cheese, known in French as familles de fromages - cheese families. And they are;Fresh cheese, such as cottage cheese or the soft white fromage blancSoft ripened cheese, such as Camembert or BrieSoft ripened cheese with a washed rind, such as l'Epoisses or Pont l'EvequeUnpasturised hard cheese such as Reblechon or saint NectairePasturised hard cheese such as Emmental or ComtéBlue cheese such as RoquefortGoat's cheeseMelted or mixed cheese such as CancaillotA good cheeseboard in France is generally considered to consist of at least three families - a soft cheese, a hard cheese and either a blue or a goat's cheese. Read our full guide to the complex cheese etiquette of France.

Source: The Local December 19, 2019 09:33 UTC