French tourist sensationally uncovers Australian cheese scandal: ‘I had my suspicions for years… now we know’

When constructing a cheese board, Brie and Camembert are invariably go-to inclusions for Australians. 

But French visitor Leo Filipetti, who recently tasted the local iterations, has made a bold claim about the Aussie versions of the popular cheeses.

‘I learnt that in Australia, the Brie and the Camembert are exactly the same cheese,’ he claimed.

The European comedian, who’s spent the past year in Australia, made the declaration in a now-viral video, claiming he had even conducted his own research to confirm his hunch.

‘They just change the packaging, but it tastes the same, it’s the same cheese,’ he alleged in a video, shared to his @leofilipetti Instagram account.

‘I went to a dairy farm in Victoria, and they validated what I just told you.’

Daily Mail spoke to Leo, who explained that his curiosity about the similarity between Australian Brie and Camembert varieties was piqued when he tasted both back to back.

‘My friend told me there was Camembert and Brie on the cheese plate – so I tried them both, and I thought they tasted very similar,’ he said.

‘I even thought maybe my friend didn’t read the label correctly and had accidentally just bought two Bries!’ 

Since that taste test, Leo has made it his personal mission to try a variety of Australian cheeses. 

While the French local was overall ‘impressed by the quality of the cheese’ down under, he remained adamant that he couldn’t tell the two popular white-mould varieties apart in Oz. 

‘I tried many different brands and most of the time, they both tasted very similar.

‘In France, the Camembert is more intense and savoury than Brie.

‘But in Australia, these cheeses are milder than in France.’

Leo said his fascination even led him to search for answers by visiting an unnamed Aussie dairy farm. Although they didn’t specify particular brands, he said he was told there ‘that both cheeses are produced using the same process’.

‘They said they’re made using pasteurised white-mould cheeses with similar creamy textures.’

Daily Mail spoke to RMIT University Professor Jayani Chandrapala about the suggestion that Brie and Camembert are essentially the same cheese in Australia.

The Head & Associate Dean of the Department of Food Technology & Nutrition agreed that the two cheeses are ‘mostly produced using the same ingredients’, but pointed out the ‘processing conditions’ could be different.

But in response to suggestion that Brie and Camembert are one and the same in Australia, Professor Chandrapala felt this was ‘over claiming’.

‘Both types use pasteurised milk and the same lactic acid bacteria to acidify the milk and to develop flavour. They both use rennet for milk coagulation, Penicillium fungus to produce the mouldy rind, and then salt,’ she explained.

‘In Australia, more cream might be added to Brie to get a richer, creamier texture,’ she said, adding that it usually also undergoes a ‘shorter ageing process’.

‘Camembert is usually aged longer, to give that intense, earthy flavour,’ she noted.

‘Overall, the fat content and ageing processes are what make the difference between the two cheese types.’

Globally renowned professional cheese expert Ivan Larcher also spoke to Daily Mail about why the two cheese types tend to taste similar in Australia.

The Frenchman – fondly known in the industry as the ‘cheese doctor’ – has worked with many prominent cheesemakers worldwide and in Australia, he founded and works closely with premier cheesemakers and educators, Long Paddock Cheese.

Ivan relished the opportunity to ‘reestablish the truth’ about these cheese varieties in Australia, which he explained belong to the broader ‘technological family: the “Bloomy Soft Cheeses”.’

He explained that traditionally, Brie and Camembert are names that refer to the geographical location of the cheesemaker in France: ‘Brie being a region near east of Paris, while Camembert is a small village located in lower Normandy.’

The traditional methods of cheesemaking is deeply protected in these European locations – with ageing methods and physical appearance highly specific to the towns and regions in which they’re produced.

However, Ivan emphasised that strictly speaking, ‘there is no legal classification or definition of what a “Brie” or “Camembert” cheese must be’.

‘Both are generic names,’ he explained. ‘You could theoretically make any kind of cheese and label it as a “Brie” or “Camembert”.’

As a result, he notes that unfortunately when places outside of France label their cheeses as “Brie” or “Camembert”, it’s essentially a marketing tool, and not indicative of the characteristics or production methods of making the cheese.

‘If we look at the situation in Australia, these names are purely marketing tools to help the sale of the products,’ Ivan said.

‘Bloomy Soft Cheese manufacturers in Australia are selling a name rather than a product, leading to such confusion,’ he added.

Ivan lamented that in Australia, sadly, many cheeses are ‘the same white, tasteless, boring, predictable gummy dairy protein foodstuff, sold either under the name of Brie or Camembert’.

He noted that adding ‘a bunch of cream into the cheese to make it an ‘oozy creamy cheese’ was usually the only main difference between the types.

‘They have fundamentally the same base but different names.’

So, in his work with Long Paddock Cheese, Ivan directed the brand to ditch using  labels like Brie and Camembert for their white bloomy cheese – because it isn’t  a French-made cheese.

Instead, Long Paddock Cheese call its own localised white bloomy cheese variety ‘Flannel Flower’ cheese.

‘As a mark of respect to real Brie and Camembert manufacturers, who have been in operation for centuries now, we wanted to make a cheese with an Australian identity, helped by French savoir-faire.

‘And rather than adding cream into our milk to try to create a fake oozy texture, we partially skim the milk, as they do in traditional Camembert. We then process this spare cream into crème fraîche and artisan butter.’

The recent online video claim about Brie and Camembert varieties in Australia has stunned cheese lovers – many who felt that Leo’s claim made absolute sense.

‘No wonder I could never tell the difference,’ mused one person.

‘I swear you’re right. I thought I just wasn’t cultured enough,’ added another.

But others Aussies with more refined palates insisted that Brie and Camembert are definitely not the same – if you get it from the right place.

‘Supermarket cheese: yes. Good deli or cheese shop: no. There are few of us here who know our cheeses,’ read one reply.

‘Noooooo surely not. Camembert is way better than Brie.’

Others playfully coined new names for the Aussie cheese – with one calling it ‘CamenBrie’.

‘Brimembert is my favourite cheese,’ joked another.

But one person light-heartedly suggested they’d need to conduct their own further “research” into the matter.

‘Great. Now I have to go and buy Brie and Cam and open them and eat them to test for myself… And a pinot gris with walnuts, honey and figs and crackers. So mad I have to do this. So very mad,’ one woman laughed.

Leo, who is currently touring his comedy show around Melbourne and Sydney, even laughingly piped up in response to this particular comment, replying: ‘Hope you have the worst time.’