Initially, Frenchman eats the artisan cheese (4)
I believe the answer is:
feta
'cheese' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'initially frenchman eats the artisan' is the wordplay.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'frenchman eats the artisan' is 'FETA'.
(Other definitions for feta that I've seen before include "Greek dairy product" , "food there" , "Crumbly Greek cheese" , "Eastern Mediterranean cheese" , "Greek 8 across" .)