[Marie Harel, 1761 Crouttes-1844 Vimoutiers] It
is said that Marie Harel, born
in 1761 in Crouttes (Crouptes),
a hamlet near Vimoutiers,
would not
have invented the cheese
already mentioned in the General
Geographic and Historical
Dictionary of Thomas Corneille
in 1708.
But it is undoubtedly recognized
that : according to a
recusant priest's advices, l'abbé Charles-Jean Bonvoust, and to whom she had
given refuge during the
revolutionary period,
she "dressed"
the Camembert cheese with
its famous crust,
modifying
thus decisively the identity of
this previously “white” cheese.
That occurred at the
►Farm
Manor of Beaumoncel on the hills
of Camembert
… some five kms from
►the
market place of Vimoutiers
where Marie used to sell her
cheeses. Her daughter,
Marie Paynel, and her husband
develop the production, and
later, seizing the opportunity
of the inauguration of the railway line Paris-Granville by Napoleon III (unless it be a
journey by Napoléon III to attend horse races in Le Haras du Pin) the
grandson Victor Paynel has the
idea to propose the cheese to
the Emperor. He meets him in
Surdon station on August 10,
1863. The Emperor tastes
Camembert cheese, likes it ...
so much that he orders regular
deliveries to the Tuileries
Palace.
No
longer any doubt,
the
notoriety of Camembert cheese
and Marie Harel is then famous
and has already crossed the
borders when:
1926 March 14th, on the market place of Vimoutiers, an
unknown man knocks on the door of
the Gavin pharmacy ...
In an attempt to make him better
understood, the man takes from his
pocket a document printed in French
:
HOMAGE TO MADAME HAREL
"Savarin, the famous
epicure, said that it
was more worthwhile to
invent a new dish than
to discover a new star.
How much more precious,
therefore, must be the
invention of a new dish
of equal benefit to both
the sick and to those
who enjoy good health.
This is the great merit
of the late Madame
Harel’s discovery. I
have travelled thousands
of miles to come to
honor her at the
monument erected in her
memory, and had I known
the history of Camembert
cheese earlier, I would
have made this
pilgrimage long ago.
France possesses many
cheeses, all of which
are excellent, but when
it comes to
digestibility, Madame
Harel’s cheese, the
“véritable Norman
Camembert,” is surely
the best. Years ago, I
suffered for several
months from indigestion,
and Camembert was
practically the sole
nourishment that my
stomach and intestines
were able to tolerate.
Since then, I have sung
the praises of
Camembert, I have
introduced it to
thousands of gourmets,
and I myself eat it two
or three times a day.
I shall never tire of
describing the value of
this wonderful product
of your town, and in my
efforts to convince the
doubters, I have asked
them to engage in an
impartial trial. May
Camembert’s popularity
increase the world over
and may your town
produce other
benefactors of mankind
to equal Madame Harel.
In humble expression of
my great admiration for
Camembert cheese, which
is shared by thousands
of friends in the United
States,
I
have brought with me
across the waters this
wreath of flowers to lay
on the monument of our
common benefactoress.
May the French and
American flags be
forever united in the
service of mankind".
Joseph KNIRIM,
Mars 1926 March, Camembert, France
The event is
serious for the chief town of the
district... George Dentu, Doctor and also the mayor, comes immediately
… It is that
Joe KNIRIM, American* Doctor*
arrives
from New York. He assures
that he cured many patients with for
only remedy : the Camembert cheese…
And he crossed the Atlantic with the
sole purpose of laying a sheaf of
flowers on Marie Harel's grave … but
nobody can say where Marie is buried…
Finally, Joe Knirim is shown to the
tomb of those who gave birth to the
“Benefactress of humanity”, they
rest in Champosoult** … honor is safe!
A sumptuous lunch ... when dessert
is served, Joe Knirim thanks his
hosts and with 20 dlrs offered at
once, he opens the subscription
which will allow the
inauguration, on April 7, 1928, of
the statue of Marie Harel,
unveiled by Alexandre Millerand,
former President of the Republic !
It is an unforgettable day which
“the Illustration” newspaper will
report … Unfortunately, when Mr the
Mayor invited Joe for the great day,
he received a telegram from New
York: “Dr. KNIRIM IS DEAD”!
The best beer and the best philosophy in New York" :
* Actually, the Joseph Knirim, aka the "Doctor", "Herr Doctor of Hanover square", for his therapist talents, had
a kind of bar/restaurant/"sanitarium in the evening", aka the "Eats and Pilsner Sanitarium", where he used to serve lukewarm Pilsner beer and camembert to his stressed "patients" to cure their digestive problems...
He kew of the virtues of honest beer from his childhood in Germersheim, in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where he remembered the hausfraw administering boiled hot beer to the children for cold and fevers.
It is when he heard of Viennese specialists who prescribed the diet of PILSNER URQUELL beer and CAMEMBERT for "stomach treatment", that he decided to apply it to himself with amazing success. Then, he decided to promulgate its virtue to others. What he did for 42 years in New York, Pearl street in Hanover Square ...
In 1926, on March the 3rd, he leaved New York confiding that he would live somewhere near Prague, after he had placed a wreast upon the monument recently erected in Normandy to MARIE HAREL, who first found the formula for making Camembert cheese. (Source The New York Sun 23rd february, 1926 n more).
Joseph Knirim finally died the following year in New York, at the age of 63.
** We now know that Marie Harel was buried in Vimoutiers...
