August 3 & 4, 2024 Fourmofolies in Ambert, the Ambert Fourme cheese festival

In Ambert, the star cheese is called Fourme. A small cheese with a big destiny, it can be found on every table in France, proudly displaying its AOP label. As the emblem of an entire region, it’s only right that it should be celebrated as it should be. Once again this year,Fourme d’Ambert PDO is the star of Fourm’idables picnics. And at the famous Fourmofolies in Ambert on August 3 and 4, 2023. Treat your taste buds to a gourmet interlude during your summer vacations. AOP Fourme d’Ambert is the sweetest of blues.

Fourmofolies : Ambert celebrates its Fourme cheese

The event is free and open to all in downtown Ambert.

Almost everyone loves Fourme d’Ambert. Round to the eye, light on the palate, unctuous yet firm, it possesses an inimitable elegance. Over the years, this grand dame has become one of France’s favorite cheeses. Appreciated by Michelin-starred chefs,Fourme d’Ambert PDO deserves to be celebrated. Calling all epicureans! Every summer, the town ofAmbert celebrates its famous blue-veined cheese over a colorful weekend. On August 3 and 4, the Fourmofolies take over the streets of Ambert for an event dedicated to sharing and conviviality. Above all, it’s an opportunity to discover or rediscover the Fourme d’Ambert PDO, with its gastronomic delights.

Fourme cheese par monts et vallées

The Fourmofolies are also a great opportunity to showcase the Ambert region, its products and its producers. The latter take advantage of a privileged moment to show the public what Livradois-Forez mountain agriculture is really all about. With its preserved traditions and know-how, as well as its innovations.

Because the Fourmofolies is an ” open-air farm “, the event puts the spotlight on the world of agriculture. Demonstrations of Fourme cheese-making, tastings, recipes and the presence of herds. A local market for the weekend, Ambert also welcomes dozens of exhibitors from all over France. There will be plenty of entertainment and games for young and old, as well as free concerts on Saturday evening.

These two days of festivities punctuate the year-long efforts of the Syndicat Interprofessionnel de la Fourme d’Ambert (SIFam) to promote the PDO.

The Fourm'idables picnic that whet the appetite

Relaxed, casual, a little old-fashioned but so delicious, the picnic is an ode to the lightness of fine weather. This shared moment in nature has the taste of freedom of a summer vacation! And when it’s one of the Fourm’idables picnics, gastronomy is a special guest. As a prelude to the Fourmofolies, an event which honours theFourme d’Ambert PDO on the first weekend of August, the rendez-vous is at altitude. At the Col du Béal, at the end of July, for a gentle tasting under blue skies. When AOP Fourme d’Ambert revisits the picnic, Toques d’Auvergne chefs prepare the main course!

A tasty program proposed by the Syndicat interprofessionnel de la Fourme d’Ambert (SIFam) with its Fourm’idables picnics. From mignardises to desserts, the sweet blue-veined cheese is obviously present in the preparations. But the menu also features other local delicacies and products.

You can book your packed lunch online to enjoy a country-style tasting of fourme in all its forms.

I reserve my basket!

Fourm'idables picnics a landscape to savor

The Fourm’idables picnics set up their tablecloths in the PDO production area. Here, at an altitude of 1,390m, you can feast your eyes on open spaces as far as the eye can see. The panorama offers a 360° tour of the Forez, Cantal and Sancy mountains, the Dômes range and even the Alps on a clear day.

Above all, these vast expanses of estives and meadows cover the heart of the Fourme d’Ambert PDO zone. It’s this grassland that feeds the cows whose milk is used to make Fourme, giving it its distinctive flavor. So it’s only a short step from landscape to Fourme sandwich!

But it’s also the people and traditions that make up the terroir.

Jasseries, traditional farmhouses whose cellars served as cheese factories, punctuate the landscape with their discreet presence. They represent the entireagro-pastoral history of the people of Forez and the know-how that went into making Fourme d’Ambert cheese.

What more grandiose and powerful setting to fully appreciate the mildest of blue cheeses?

A simple cheese with a great destiny

A slate-gray crust, a creamy texture, a full-bodied taste and quite a character! Here’s a portrait of the queen of the feast. It’s a native of the Hautes-Chaumes, a vast area of moorland and high-altitude meadows at the highest point of the Forez mountains. Indeed, since the Middle Ages, Fourme d’Ambert has been produced on the mountain pastures in a pastoral tradition handed down from generation to generation.