The Rhine’s headwaters begin in Switzerland, and pass through rich mountain regions of Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Austria and Germany.  This, then, explains why so many provinces alongside the river glow so bright in Montclair’s Constellation Gallia.  The Romans brought with them to the far ends of Europe a sophistication for cheesemaking, so that by the time Pliny the Elder wrote about the Lake Constance region, and about cheese in the first century A.D., the art of cheesemaking was already well established even here on the outer boundaries of western civilization.

That is the beauty of cheese in travel.  Cheesemaking  is a living, breathing craft, and it has been so for a time nobody exactly knows – it is not archaeology or artifact. To eat cheese is to step into museum and café.

What we think of as European cuisine is something that is relatively modern, a product of the ages of science and reason, the ingredients of the new world and the spices of the far east. 

Europe’s ancient contributions to cuisine are best represented by its single foods – bread, beer, oils, wine, salted meats, and of course cheese.  Of all of these simple foods, cheese strikes me as one that has changed very little.  And because cheese is an experience of taste, what is more true to capturing the essence and passions of older times?

We walk out onto a spit of rock and sand formed by the river pushing into the lake.  The Rhine delta means marshes and protected waters, and so it is a favored autumn geography for many migrating birds.  This means, for one thing, a whole lot of ducks.

It also means this is favorable water to the common kingfisher, a small turquoise and orange fishing bird which sits on lonely posts and tree stumps across Europe, Asia and North Africa. 

I came around here a few days ago, really, because the weather was just too awful to go in the opposite direction.  I ended up on this very same spit of sand.   But then, the weather was just a wreck – raining so hard I could barely see.  When I came to some quiet water on the delta, I looked up from my parka and there in all the gray was a shining turquoise jewel on a stick alone in the water.