Society & Culture
I’m sure you are familiar with Gouda cheese, arguably Holland’s most famous, accounting for over fifty percent of the total production of cheese in that country and these days as ubiquitous, even in this country, as Kraft singles. I too am familiar with the cheese and have been enjoying it all my life. But recently I discovered, upon visiting the Dutch city from which the cheese gets its designation, that for all these years I have been mispronouncing its name. The locals call it “how-da”, not “goo-da.” Since my visit I’ve been trying to remember to pronounce the name of the cheese, and the city, correctly. However you say it, Gouda deserves to be taken more seriously than it often is. For example, the internationally acclaimed cheesemonger Steven Jenkins, who hails originally from Columbia, Missouri, says Gouda, at least the grocery store kind, is among the most unexciting cheeses imaginable. He admits, though, that when properly aged it becomes a “miracle of flavor.” You might expect