As you already know, Lyon is renowned for its gastronomy. We’ve got restaurants for gourmets, lovely terraces for sunny lunches, bars for sipping all kinds of refreshments, bakeries and patisseries to tempt the less gourmand, and the unmissable Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse! But today we’re here to talk cheese! As the country of 1001 cheeses, France has known it was at the top of the list since the dawn of time (especially the Lyonnais ), but it’s always good news to be awarded the honors!
Taste Atlas, the world’s food atlas
Taste Atlas is a veritable encyclopedia for the curious and the gourmet. Its aim? To list and map all the flavors and culinary treasures of the 4 corners of the world. To this end, the site compiles rankings based on major themes, such as the best dishes or the best… cheeses! Needless to say, their rankings titillated our curiosity as gourmet Lyonnais. What a surprise when we discovered the place of one of them…
The best French cheese is: Saint Félicien!
Cock-a-doodle-doo! According to the very serious TasteAtlas.com, Saint Félicien ranks 5th among the best cheeses on the planet. Its mellowness and freshness must have made people fall in love with it… and we can understand why!
Saint Félicien is produced in the Isère and Drôme regions of France, but it actually made its debut in Lyon in 1956! Marius Boucher’s cheese dairy registered the brand with the Lyon Commercial Court. Saint-Félicien was born. Chauvinistic but not a bad player, let’s salute the “razzia” of the Italians in the 2025 ranking with Parmigiano Reggiano nº1, Burrata nº3 and Mozzarella di Bufala Campana nº4, (nº2 being the Greek cheese: Graviera Naxou).
Reblochon, Comté and Beaufort also top the rankings
Even if the rankings give pride of place to trans-alpine cheeses, we have nothing to be ashamed of. Even less so in our beloved region. Reblochon ranks 13th and Beaufort 16th. The great classics such as Camembert de Normandie and Saint Agur are not unanimously appreciated, ranking 72nd and 81st respectively. The Tomme de Savoie and Raclette also disappointed, coming in at 82nd and 97th respectively…
Be that as it may, a good cheese from here or elsewhere on a good slice of bread does indeed create a chemical reaction in our mouths. So don’t wait any longer, head for your local cheese shop! Find the full Taste Atlas ranking here. Do you like Saint Félicien? Félicie… too!