A nice piece of cheese from the workshop

With all religions it is the case that the believers are forbidden a number of things that they like or like and that would not actually hurt a fly. Of course, the beloved faithful cannot comply with these nonsensical prohibitions, so that they always feel sinful and guilty and are permanently indebted to the priestly caste.

For example, there are religions that forbid drinking herbal tea or wheat beer, or charging interest on loans, playing dice or cards, participating in a lottery, eating pork or beef, or fish on Friday, or garlic, under a ladder walking, wearing wigs or having sex for reasons other than procreation.

In Thailand, it is well known, cheese shops are taboo for religious reasons. You will therefore not find a cheese shop anywhere in this country unless it is an illegal one. You can eat cheese there, but only if you make it yourself or get it from someone. When I was recently on holiday in Amsterdam again after a stay of more than a year in Thailand, I saw a cheese shop there and I immediately stepped inside. By now I was in the mood for a nice piece again! I took my time looking around the store and saw what was for sale.

All kinds of objects related to cheese, such as cheese boards, cheese bell jars, cheese knives, cheese slicers, cheese buckets, fondue pots, cheese cloth, etc. etc. They also had books with pictures of all kinds of cheeses in many colors (white, yellow, brown, black, blue veined) and of all ages: from very young to overage. Also all kinds of materials for packaging cheese, from sturdy, stiff, black stuff to wafer-thin, almost edible wrappers. You could even buy movies of people consuming all kinds of cheese in twos or threes with lots of gulps and moans of pleasure. But there was not a nice piece of real cheese to eat in the entire store! When I approached the heavily tattooed man behind the cash register, he grumbled that he couldn't buy this and that I should take care of it myself. What did we get now?! Deeply disappointed I left the cheese shop.

What is that? Making people a little tasty and then not giving them home. Yes, I can do that too. It's like being lured into a restaurant with a good appetite and then fobbed off with a collection of cookbooks and menus, plates and cutlery, plus a few films of people gorging themselves. When I got outside, I stared thoughtfully at the shop window. Next to the cheese shop was a sex shop, but I realized in time that I had better not go in there, because that would be the same story.

I suddenly understood that a shop is actually a tool shop and not a place where you can buy the product. I now also clearly saw the connection with the old meaning of the English word shop, namely workshop. Although, a workshop is of course the place where you use tools, so it's not quite right. Well, it's actually a good thing to have to live with things that aren't quite right: that invites you to think. For that tasty piece I'll have to wait until I'm back in Thailand, because cheese shops are banned there, but I know from my own observation that the stuff itself is fairly easy to get everywhere, in all shapes and sizes.

On the other side of the cheese shop was a so-called clog shop (or was it a clog-o-theek?). As I passed it and surveyed the display in the window, it suddenly dawned on me why I always buy my mangoes in pairs in Jomtien: never one, never three, always two. My day was good again.