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.
🇨🇭 Switzerland and 5 moreEmmentalEmmentaler
A yellow, medium-hard Swiss cheese with natural holes, aged for several months.Cow · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy
🇨🇾 Cyprus and 3 moreHalloumiχαλούμι
A squeaky, brined cheese from Cyprus that holds its shape when fried.Mixed · Brined · Salty
🇮🇳 IndiaKalimpong cheese
A mild, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from a West Bengal hill station, started by a Jesuit priest.Cow · Semi-hard · Tangy and lactic
🇲🇹 MaltaĠbejna
A small Maltese sheep's-milk cheese shaped in reed hurdles and sold fresh, dried, or peppered.Sheep · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreTilsitTilsiter
A semi-hard smear-ripened cow's milk cheese from East Prussia with a dark yellow rind.Cow · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy
🇳🇱 NetherlandsMaasdam
A semi-hard Dutch cow's milk cheese with holes, aged for one to three months.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty
🇫🇷 FranceBeaufort
A firm, hole-free Alpine cow's milk cheese from the French Savoie region.Cow · Alpine · Buttery and creamy
🇸🇾 Syria and 5 moreAkkawiجبنة عكاوي
A white brined cow's milk cheese from the Levant named after Acre.Cow · Brined · Salty
🇫🇷 FranceSalersSalèrn
A semi-hard cow's-milk cheese from the Auvergne, aged in caves for up to four years.Cow · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreKasseriκασέρι
A pasta filata sheep's milk cheese aged for at least three months in Greece and Turkey.Sheep · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy
🇺🇸 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
🇸🇰 SlovakiaParenica
A semi-firm Slovak cheese made from steamed curds, often smoked and woven into spirals.Sheep · Semi-hard · Savoury and brothy
🇬🇧 United KingdomLancashire cheese
A cow's-milk cheese from England with creamy, nutty, or crumbly varieties.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty
🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreOaxaca cheesequeso Oaxaca
A semi-hard, stringy cow's milk cheese from southern Mexico, made using the pasta filata method.Cow · Semi-hard · 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
🇮🇹 ItalyCastelmagno
A semi-hard Italian cheese from Piedmont with blue veining and a sharp taste.Cow · Semi-hard · Sharp and tangy-aged
🇺🇸 United StatesColby
A semi-hard American cow's-milk cheese with a mild flavor and orange hue from annatto.Cow · Semi-hard · Milky and fresh
🇮🇹 ItalyValtellina CaseraCasera de la Valtolina
A semi-hard cow's milk cheese from the Sondrio province of Italy, aged for a complex flavour.Cow · Semi-hard · Tangy and lactic
🇪🇸 SpainIboresQueso Ibores
A firm, salty goat cheese from Extremadura with a natural or paprika-rubbed rind.Goat · Semi-hard · Salty
🇸🇪 SwedenPrästost
A semi-hard Swedish cow's-milk cheese with a mild, nutty flavour and a washed rind.Cow · Semi-hard · Nutty
🇪🇸 SpainMajorero
A semi-hard goat milk cheese from Fuerteventura with a nutty, buttery taste.Goat · Semi-hard · Milky and fresh
🇮🇹 ItalySalvaSalva cremasco
A washed-rind cow's milk cheese from Lombardy, aged for several months.Cow · Washed rind · Savoury and brothy
🇲🇽 MexicoCotija
A salty, aged cow's milk cheese from Michoacán that crumbles but does not melt.Cow · Semi-hard · Salty
🇺🇸 United StatesColby-Jack
A mild American semi-hard cheese made by blending Colby and Monterey Jack curds.Cow · Semi-hard
🇮🇹 ItalyFormai de Mut dell'Alta Valle Brembana
A semi-hard cow's milk cheese from the high pastures of Lombardy, Italy.Cow · Semi-hard · Sweet and caramel
🇮🇱 IsraelTzfat Cheeseגבינה צפתית
A semi-hard salty cheese from Safed, originally made with sheep's milk and molded in baskets.Sheep · Semi-hard · Salty
🇪🇸 SpainMallorcaformatge mallorquí
A semi-hard cow, goat or sheep milk cheese from the Balearic Islands with an olive-oiled rind.Cow · Semi-hard · Milky and fresh
🇪🇸 SpainMurcian wine cheesequeso de Murcia al vino
A fatty goat cheese from Spain with a red-wine-stained rind and Protected Designation of Origin status.Goat · Semi-hard · Salty
🇧🇷 BrazilQueijo prato
A mild, semi-hard Brazilian cow's milk cheese with a yellow paste and low salt content.Cow · Semi-hard · Salty
🇮🇹 ItalyProvola silana
A semi-hard stretched-curd cheese from the Sila mountains of southern Italy.Cow · Semi-hard
🇺🇸 United StatesPinconning cheese
A semi-hard American Colby-style cow's milk cheese aged to various sharpness levels.Cow · Semi-hard · Sharp and tangy-aged
🇫🇷 FranceBucheronBûcheron
A semi-aged goat's milk cheese from France shaped like a short log with a white rind.Goat · Bloomy rind · Sharp and tangy-aged
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Havarti: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Valtellina Casera: Distretto Agroalimentare di Qualità della Valtellina, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mahón: Slastic, Public domain, source
- Salers: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Beaufort: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Monterey Jack: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Akkawi: Paul Joseph, CC BY 2.0, source
- Ibores: No machine-readable author provided. Ardo Beltz assumed (based on copy, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Lancashire cheese: Jon Sullivan, Public domain, source
- Emmental: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Castelmagno: Marco Plassio, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Prästost: Nordelch, CC BY 3.0, source
- Colby-Jack: Stephen Shep, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Majorero: Mumumío ( www.mumumío.com ), CC BY 2.0, source
- Halloumi: Rainer Zenz, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kalimpong cheese: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ġbejna: Chattacha, CC BY 3.0, source
- Parenica: Stanislav Doronenko, Public domain, source
- Murcian wine cheese: Shalbat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kasseri: E4024, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Maasdam: Arz, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Oaxaca cheese: Javier Lastras, CC BY 2.0, source
- Colby: Jeff the quiet, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cotija: Leslie Seaton, CC BY 2.0, source
- Tzfat Cheese: Myself, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Formai de Mut dell'Alta Valle Brembana: MOs810, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mallorca: Tamorlan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bucheron: Quinn Dombrowski, CC BY-SA 2.0, source