General de Gaulle once quipped “How can you govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese?” As I research this question, I find that no two answers are the same…kind of like the topic itself: French cheeses! So, I will quote Wiki ” Traditionally, there are from 350 to 450 distinct types of French cheese grouped into eight categories ‘les huit familles de fromage’.[1] There can be many varieties within each type of cheese, leading some to claim closer to 1,000 different types of French cheese.[1]” Surely new cheeses are created daily, so that number could get a bit unruly and highly debatable. In short, who knows?