National Cheese Lovers Day

Sweet dreams are made of cheese.
Who am I to diss a brie?
I cheddar the world and the feta cheese.
Everybody’s looking for stilton.

Admit it, you just sang that song about cheese, especially if you’re a child of the 80’s! And doing so should make you feel gouda, not bleu. OK, enough with the cheesy puns. You’ll just have to take my curd for it. Swissful thinking!

Today is National Cheese Lover’s Day! Rejoice in the dairy goodness! Use today to sample and enjoy any of the multitudes of cheese varieties that exist. Depending on the source, there are between 900 and 1400 kinds of cheese! There are many ways to celebrate the day. If you’re able to work in an office, everyone can bring a cheese to try. For safety’s sake, cut them up at home and bring in individually wrapped portions. The same goes with getting together a gathering of friends. Remember, cheese is much more flavorful at room temperature. After hours, don’t forget the wine. Famously, cheese goes wonderfully with wine.

If you’re lucky and live close enough to a food truck-rich area, check out a local mobile restaurant that specializes in cheesy goodness. For those in the Raleigh market, check out Cow and Oak [link Cow and Oak to https://www.instagram.com/cowandoak/?hl=en]. They serve up gourmet mac & cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches. Most of their offerings can be served as a bowl or a sandwich. Perfect on a cool winter day!

To wrap things up, check out some of this cheese trivia:

• The average American consumes over 31 pounds of cheese per year. The average Frenchman consumes over 50 pounds per year!
• When cheese is digested, it breaks down into an opioid. Milk dairy cheese can also contain naturally occurring amounts of morphine from the cow’s liver. No wonder it makes you feel so good!
• Gouda cheese accounts for over half of the world’s cheese consumption.
• Scientists have successfully created cheese using human bacteria collected from toes and belly buttons. Ewww!
• The latin word for ‘cheese’ is ‘caseus’ which means ‘to ferment and sour’. Makes perfect sense when you understand how cheese is made.

Have a grate day! (Sorry - had to!)