Cheese, brick

Fun Facts

1. Archaeological surveys show that cheese was being made from the milk of cows and goats in Mesopotamia before 6000 B.C.
2. Travelers from Asia are thought to have brought the art of cheese making to Europe, where the process was adapted and improved in European monasteries.
3. The Pilgrims included cheese in their supplies onboard the Mayflower in 1620.
4. The world’s largest consumers of cheese include Greece (63 pounds per person each year), France (54 pounds), Iceland (53 pounds), Germany (48 pounds), Italy (44 pounds), the Netherlands (40 pounds), the United States (31 pounds), Australia (27 pounds), and Canada (26 pounds).
5. Processed American cheese was developed in 1915 by J. L. Kraft (founder of Kraft Foods) as an alternative to the traditional cheeses that had a short shelf life.
6. Founded in 1882, the Crowley Cheese Factory in Healdville, Vermont, is the nation’s oldest cheese maker still in operation.
7. Someone who sells cheese professionally at a cheese shop or specialty food store is called a cheese monger.