Marie Harel

Marie Harel, créatrice du fromage de camembert, à quelques kilomètres de Vimoutiers, est l’une des héroïnes locales, représentée par deux statues. L’originale a perdu la tête lors du bombardement de Vimoutiers le 14 juin 1944. L’autre a été offerte par le Pilot Club International et fait face à la mairie.
Un hommage à cette femme qui recueillit le secret d’un prêtre réfractaire pendant la Révolution et inventa le célèbre camembert, connu mondialement.

At the beginning was Normandy...

...its region and its famous cows, but for most of us the history of camembert began with a French farmer: Marie Harel. In the middle of the French Revolution (1791, if we trust the oral tradition), she gave birth to a delicious cheese, which was named according to the name of the town she was living in:In fact, cheeses were produced in Camembert since at least 1680. For example, Thomas Corneille (the brother of the famous French writer) wrote in 1708 in his "General Geographic and Historical Dictionary", that every Monday on the Vimoutiers market, you could buy excellent cheeses from the Camembert area. Marie Harel had probably "just" improved the recipe, helped by a non-juring priest (Abbey Bonvoust) that she was hiding since 1790, and who gave her a secret about the preparation of cheese. (more on www.camembert-country.com)