Austria has some AMAZING cheese. Having spent a lot of time there with my wife (who is Austrian), most of the farmers have little side businesses to make extra money. In Styria (the "state" my wife is from) they make a lot of goat's milk cheese.

One day, while driving around, my wife spotted a sign on the side of the road that announced that the farmer was selling his own cheese.

We drove down a dirt road to the little farm and guy who reminded me of Grizzly Adams came out to greet us. We followed him into his store where he let us sample his cheese. My wife and I both like powerful, rich cheeses and this one missed the mark. We asked if he had something stronger. His eyes lit up and he brought out a beautiful aged wheel of some time of goat's cheese. We tried it and it was one of the best cheeses we ever had. He said the didn't bring it out often because most people found it too strong. We bought the whole wheel (about seven pounds) for about 30 Euros. What a bargin! And what great cheese!

The worst cheese I ever had was in Transylvania, north of Brasov, Romania. They have this cheese that they package in tree bark, which imparts a "unique" flavor. Unique is right! Two words: Never again.

Domestically (in the USA) I love blue cheeses and Maytag Blue Cheese is my favorite. (Yes, it is the same company that make the applicances.) GREAT stuff!