‘It’s become something of a craze’: influencers spread news of healthy French cheese

Cancoillotte is low in fat, high in protein and – until recently – little known outside of a village in eastern France At the cheesemakers in the village of Franois, eastern France, a stream of what looks like runny, beige gloop is being potted, packaged and dispatched for delivery as fast as it can be made. The freezer room, normally piled high with pallets of the product, is almost empty. For what must be the first time in the history of cancoillotte – a cheese product that until recently was little known outside the eastern Franche-Comté – there was talk of a “rupture” in supplies, and an unprecedented shortage. France may be what Charles de Gaulle described as an ungovernable country of 246 kinds of cheese, but only one of them can claim to have won the hearts of fitness fanatics and social media influencers. In just a few weeks, word has spread about cancoillotte – pronounced con-qwy-yotte – among those who want to have their cheese and eat it without melting toned muscles or sending cholesterol soaring. Unlike most cheeses, cancoillotte is low in fat, high in protein, cheap and until recently something of a niche product outside the Franche-Comté, the region