While attempting to think of a topic for this blog post, my sister (oh-so-helpfully) suggested that I write about cheese. This was a new area of interest for me, but one that is dear to Kari. So this posts draws upon her for inspiration.

It’s interesting to note that a word one might know in a foreign language is often cheese. Queso, for instance, is overly used for naming any sub-par cheese and salsa concoction sold in a convenience store. For that reason, you ask nearly any average American what queso is, and he/she will correctly answer.

In the realm of 3+ star restaurants, those that attempt to instill a sense of a foreign dining experience in its patrons, use of the word fromage is frequent. Likewise, the Italian “formaggio” is not altogether unusual.

Cheese, while universally known, is a topic of some discord. For example, my friend who spent a year in France as an exchange student, swears against yellow cheeses of any sort. The yellow is apparently too unnatural – cheese and even butter are originally white.
On the other hand, another friend swears against white cheese. She refuses to enjoy any cheese on her delicious Subway sandwiches because they no longer serve yellow American cheese, which she much prefers. “It’s tastier.”

So while not necessarily delving into too much depth about this controversial subject, I feel that I have presented a few rather unconventional thoughts in the everlasting conversation on cheese. Maybe next time you bump into someone in the dairy aisle at the grocery store, you’ll have something interesting to discuss.