Breakfast made moo-velous with an egg-white omelet, apple, blackberries, toast, and of course, Laughing Cow cheese. |
Some mornings, I enjoy cheese on my toast at breakfast. Recently, I’ve enjoyed Stilton and Double
Gloucester. The other day my wife
brought home a triangle of Laughing Cow.
After the other two cheeses, I didn’t expect much flavor from this mild,
smooth cheese. But I found that I enjoyed
Laughing Cow just as much as I had the other two. Its flavor might be less rich, but I found it
no less pleasant. An added bonus was how
easily it spread across the toast.
Of course, names are evocative for a writer, and Laughing
Cow made me wonder. In his books, James
Herriot tells of cows that winked at people, who butted milk pails, who
regarded kicking a farm worker or a vet as a bovine-handshake. He tells about cows getting angry, ornery,
mean, inquisitive, friendly, and loyal. He asserts
that each farm animal, like every person, is an individual, and therefore has his or her unique personality. But none of his stories ever mention a cow
laughing.
So, as I often do these days, I turned to the Internet for
answers. On Wikipedia, I learned that
Leon Bel trademarked the brand in 1921.
To advertise his new brand, he drew a cow with a hilarious expression. Three years later, a famous illustrator named
Benjamin Rabier enhanced Bel’s drawing, giving her earrings, coloring her red,
and depicting her laughing. The cheese has since won the world over, and recently the company contacted BBC Radio
comedian Milton Jones to answer my question: Could he make a cow laugh?
At the link below, you can see several two-minute-long videos. I enjoyed watching Milton's outdoor show. While I’m not convinced that the cows’
responses to his stories, gags, and punch-lines equivocate with my own laughter,
they certainly seem interested in him.
Or maybe they’re just trying to get to the hay.
Enjoy!
Dragon Dave
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