Have you ever wondered what existed before most empires, royalty, pottery, writing, and even the creation of metal weapons? Well, you may be surprised, because if you do ask this, you would probably hear.. CHEESE!
Cheese today is one of the world’s most popular foods, which can be found and used all over the world. Dishes like pasta, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, and your favorite pizza are all made with cheese and can’t be created without it. But what most people don’t know about this magnificent food is that it was created by accident!
Going back to about 8000 BCE (nearly 1,500 years before the first Mesopotamians emerged), farmers living in the Fertile Crescent began an unexpected legacy of cheese making. Almost as old as civilization itself, farmers domesticated animals like sheep and cattle, which ancient farmers harvested for milk. It was a simple and easy life for these farmers in the early 8000 BCE ages, but the creation of cheese began when farmers discovered soft curdles of proteins coagulating from the milk in animal stomachs. Confused about what these mysterious clumps were, farmers tried it and instantly found that these clumps were harmless and could be found as a soft and spreadable meal.
These clumps or curdles became the building blocks of cheese, which can be processed in many different ways. Like, getting aged, compressed, wizzed, or shredded. Eventually, this created the diverse cornucopia of Dairy Delights. Not only that, but the discovery of cheese gave Neolithic people an enormous survival advantage due to the healthy nutrients and limited amount of lactose contained in the cheese. Although milk was rich with essential proteins, fats, and minerals, unlike cheese, milk contained high quantities of lactose, a type of sugar that is difficult to digest in the stomach. This gives cheese a superior advantage over milk, with much less lactose and the same nutrients. And because it can be stored and stockpiled, cheese can be stored and not turn bad during long periods of time, plus it can be taken out and consumed during hot summers and long winters.
Later in time, cheese became a valuable resource and food supply. Mesopotamian kings like Sargon the Great valued cheese and traded it for other important goods during the Ancient Mesopotamian and Akkadian period. Then, near the end of the Bronze Age, cheese became a huge part of trade in the eastern Mediterranean. Some of the earliest writings were administrative records of the cheese quotas, which helped determine what type of cheese an unfamiliar cheese was and what its value was. Then, a phenomenon happened when the legacy of cheese spread around the globe! Giving a wide variety of different, hardened cheeses. But although many food cultures rejected cheese and the dairy delicacy, many others embraced it. And quickly added their own unique flavors to them.
For example, the Ancient Egyptians from 3100 BCE enjoyed and used goat’s milk cottage cheese. Straining the whey using green mats. Nomadic Mongolians from around 975 BCE used yak’s milk to create sundried cheese wedges called Byaslag. And even the Ancient Greeks from around 800 BCE used cheese extensively. Using it as a valuable food source, a luxury item, and even a religious offering for the Greek gods and the high rulers.
However, many other countries used cheese in these early time periods. Like in Southeast Asia, milk was coagulated into a wide variety of food acids. Such as lemon juice, vinegar, and yogurt. And was then hung into bags to dry into loaves of paneer cheese. But one of the most recognized countries to embrace cheese is Italy. Where the art of grating cheese and creating it with famous pasta dishes like fettuccine alfredo was invented.
But that is not all! Dried cheese was used as a valuable meal source for the nearly 500,000 soldiers guarding the vast borders of the Roman Empire. And after the Western Roman Empire collapsed, medieval monks spread into the western European countryside. They experimented with different types of milk, creating some of today’s most popular cheeses. Like Parmesan, Swiss, and Munster! In the Alps, Swiss cheesemaking was so successful that by the end of the 14th century, a neighboring state invaded the Gruyre highlands and took control of the growing cheese trade.
A famous quote by Clifton Fadiman states that “Cheese [is] milk’s leap into immortality,” showing how much cheese has impacted this world. And how the legacy of cheese lives on.
But now, cheese remains popular throughout the Renaissance. And the production of cheese went from the monastery into machinery. Today, the world produces about 22 billion kilograms of cheese per year, shipped and consumed all over the world. But even though about 10,000 years after its invention, local farms are still following in the footsteps of their Neolithic ancestors, still crafting one of humanity’s oldest and favorite foods.