The Laughing Cow

I have been meaning to write about Laughing Cow for a long time.  Why?  Well it’s something I shall always associate with Sierra Leone.  It is a staple part of the expat diet and I know many a VSO volunteer who has developed a serious Laughing Cow habit.  I counted myself in those ranks until January when I went cold turkey.  The habit can be kicked.

So what is Laughing Cow or La vache qui rit?  It is basically a triangle of cheesy goodness – if you believe the label.  But I’m not so sure.  What have they done to a product which can be kept unrefridgerated and not go bad?  It is like the Dairylea of my childhood. 

Triangles of happiness

It is predominantly a sandwich filling with the benefit of not needing a knife to spread it as the silver wrapping can be used to smear it over bread.  A breakfast food too if you stay over at the beach as it comes along with the bread that accompanies your omelette.  I have also heard tell that it is nice atop a ginger nut biscuit to create an individual cheesecake.  True addicts though need none of that, they eat triangles straight from the wrapper.

One of the main roads in Freetown is Wilkinson Road which has a number of walls along it.  This wall space is used by as advertising space instead of billboards.  So as you travel along it your journey is punctuated with many Laughing Cow sightings.  The likeness is amazing with the bright reds and blues cheering up a boring grey wall.  Genius!

The real thing

The mural!

The Cow is truly laughing all the way up the road.

Really?

And I had a laugh too as part of the photohunt