Pasatvino takeaway makes theirs with italian ham in focaccia bread, roquette lettuce, etc but it's probably emmental underneath it all..)

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d3746280-Reviews-L_etage_de_Pastavino-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

I will check today.

Thanks for all the comments. I guess we will have the luxury of trying several cheeses with our home made "mixte" but we will start off with Emmental. What I do find odd is that in a country which produces literally hundreds of fine cheeses, they use a Swiss cheese for their most famous lunch baguette but I believe its also made in France.

This has got me thinking about all the French cheese I've tried over the years and I wondered if I could pick out a favourite. I know I've probably eaten only 10% of what's available but in no particular order:- Reblochon, Saint-Marcellin, Pont l'Évêque, Comté, Tomme de Savoie and of course good old Camembert and Brie.

Honestly, what is sold in France as "Emmental" is often not really good (I'm thinking of the generic stuff you find wrapped in plastic in supermarket, and which is made very far from the Alps). It is somewhat cheaper than good cheese so I guess that's why it often features in ham and cheese sandwiches in boulangerie. If you shop for cheese in a specialized cheese shop then you can find tastier Emmental and other hard cheeses from the Alps area, a good cheese shop will advise you and should let you taste before you buy. There is no cheese police to tell you which cheese should be in your sandwich so take the one you enjoy. Personnaly I enjoy goat cheese in my sandwiches ;)

Soph, I know there is no cheese police but sometimes its nice to get other peoples opinions and then you might end up trying something you may otherwise have missed out on.

I guess my message was totally misunderstood because I actually agree with you , I was referring to the messages telling you to stick to Emmental. I would actually try anything other than Emmental, unless it's good Emmental. I enjoy goat cheese, brie, camembert, comté (even beaufort), tomme...

Soph..... no offence taken. Any misunderstanding would have been on my part. You are right about plastic supermarket cheese. I will be avoiding that and sampling cheese of a better quality, probably too much of it for my waistline.

Traditionally, the ingredients would be jambon de Paris and emmental, but I think tradition went out the window long ago. And in Paris we prefer unsalted butter.

' Honestly, what is sold in France as "Emmental" is often not really good (I'm thinking of the generic stuff you find wrapped in plastic in supermarket, and which is made very far from the Alps). '

For the record, I don't like it either, but as the question was about what locals would use, which I understood as something done on a customary/average basis, I thought that Emmental was still a proper answer. Also the actual Swiss cheese is not even called Emmental, which is the name of the valley where the cheese originates from, but Emmentaler.

As a helpful hint, true Emmentaler is supposed to have this logo on it:

https://www.emmentaler.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/emmentaler-aop-bolino-favicon.png

I encourage people to put whatever kind of cheese and ham they like in their sandwich but I was merely giving the standard formula for what is most widely offered. Even though it's cheap ham and cheese I still like these sandwiches and as mentioned a good baguette goes a long to improving the taste of any sandwich.

EU regulations protect the names of both French and German emmental. If Switzerland had been a member of the EU, it could have protected the name emmental from usage by other EU members, just like Greece did with feta, even though the Netherlands and France were the largest producers of cheese they also called feta. Not any more.