Cheeses for lunch
Sandwiches, salads, ploughman's plates and the midday meal.
Lunch is where cheese meets bread most often. The British ploughman's lunch of cheddar, pickle and bread, the French baguette with Comté or ham and butter, the Italian panino with mozzarella, the Greek salad with its slab of feta, the Indian paneer roll and the American grilled cheese all build a midday meal on cheese. It is food that travels well in a box or a pocket.
Bread and cheese
The simplest lunch in many countries is bread and cheese, and many have given it a name. The ploughman's lunch, made popular in English pubs in the 1950s and 1960s, sets cheddar or Stilton beside crusty bread, butter, pickle, apple and raw onion. In France, a casse-croûte might be a baguette with Comté or Camembert, and in Spain a bocadillo de queso. In Georgia, a slice of khachapuri and a plate of fresh cheese with herbs makes a working lunch.
Salads
Greek horiatiki salad sets a slab of feta on tomato, cucumber, onion and olives. Bulgaria's shopska salad is buried under grated sirene. Italy's insalata caprese layers mozzarella with tomato and basil in the colours of the national flag. In the Levant, halloumi is grilled and laid over leaves and herbs, and in Mexico, salads of nopales, the tender pads of the prickly pear cactus, are finished with crumbled queso fresco.
Hot lunches
Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup are an American lunch pairing. Welsh rarebit, cheese melted with mustard and ale and poured over toast, is a British pub lunch. Indian kathi rolls and Mumbai frankies wrap spiced paneer in paratha for busy streets and office canteens. Mexican quesadillas fold cheese into a tortilla, and in Italy, a slice of pizza or a toasted panino with mozzarella fills the lunch hour.
Worth knowing
- Ploughman's lunch: Cheddar, bread, pickle and apple
- Greek salad: Horiatiki with a slab of feta
- Shopska salad: Bulgarian salad under grated sirene
- Caprese salad: Mozzarella, tomato and basil
- Grilled cheese: Melted cheese between toasted bread
- Welsh rarebit: Cheese sauce with mustard and ale on toast
- Quesadilla: Tortilla folded over cheese
- Kathi roll: Paratha wrapped round spiced paneer
Sources and further reading
Original text by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Lunch on EveryCheese
The cheeses written up so far, best known first.
🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreGorgonzola
A creamy Italian blue cheese from Lombardy with two distinct styles.Cow · Bloomy rind · Salty
🇮🇹 ItalyBurrata
A fresh Italian cheese with a solid mozzarella pouch filled with cream and stracciatella.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreCottage cheese
A fresh, unaged curd cheese made from skimmed milk and dressed with cream.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreCream cheese
A soft, unripened cow's-milk cheese made with added cream and eaten fresh.Cow · Fresh · Buttery and creamy
🇫🇷 FranceBeaufort
A firm, hole-free Alpine cow's milk cheese from the French Savoie region.Cow · Alpine · Buttery and creamy
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreMonterey Jack
A mild, semi-hard cow's-milk cheese from California with a creamy texture and slight sweetness.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreCancoillotte
A runny French cheese made by melting metton, served hot or cold in the east.Cow · Processed · Milky and fresh
🇫🇷 FranceBrie de Meaux
A soft-ripened cow's milk cheese with a white rind from the Brie region of France.Cow · Bloomy rind · Milky and fresh
🇪🇸 SpainMahónformatge de Maó / queso de Mahón
A cow's-milk cheese from Menorca that ranges from soft and mild to hard and sharp.Cow · Semi-soft · Buttery and creamy
🇫🇷 FranceChaumesPalhas
A soft, washed-rind cow's milk cheese from the Périgord with a tangerine-orange rind.Cow · Bloomy rind · Savoury and brothy
🇪🇸 SpainMajorero
A semi-hard goat milk cheese from Fuerteventura with a nutty, buttery taste.Goat · Semi-hard · Milky and fresh
🇬🇷 GreeceLadotyri MytilinisΛαδοτύρι Μυτιλήνης
A hard Greek cheese from Lesbos preserved in olive oil since ancient times.Sheep · Hard · Savoury and brothy
🇺🇸 United StatesProvel cheese
A white processed cheese blend of cheddar, Swiss and provolone with liquid smoke, made in St. Louis.Cow · Processed · Buttery and creamy
🇺🇸 United StatesMonterey Jack
A mild, semi-hard cow's milk cheese from California with a creamy texture and slight sweetness.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Brie de Meaux: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mahón: Slastic, Public domain, source
- Monterey Jack: Daniel Olsen ( talk ), CC BY 1.0, source
- Beaufort: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Monterey Jack: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chaumes: Robin dubois, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cancoillotte: Popo le Chien, CC0, source
- Majorero: Mumumío ( www.mumumío.com ), CC BY 2.0, source
- Cottage cheese: F ASTILY (T ALK ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gorgonzola: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cream cheese: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Burrata: Popo le Chien, CC0, source
- Ladotyri Mytilinis: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Provel cheese: J. Vivano & Sons, Inc., Public domain, source