Humans Have Been Eating Cheese For At Least 7,500 Years 214
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers have found conclusive evidence for the first time that humans have been making cheese since the 6th millennium BC."
Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip around the Sun.
Wow. (Score:4, Funny)
Thanks. That question has been keeping me up nights.
Re:Wow. (Score:5, Funny)
It kept early man up too, but that's because the cheese gave them nightmares.
No, (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wow. (Score:5, Funny)
Thanks. I had thought slashdot a place for people who had an interest in the world and science. Glad I've been disabused of that notion.
Soooo, what's your favorite episode of Jersey Shore?
Re:Wow. (Score:5, Funny)
What are you, some kind of anti-cheesite?
Talking about cheese is ALWAYS appropriate, in ANY context, and EATING cheese is even more appropriate. Anyone who says otherwise is an unrepetant philistine utterly lacking in taste and sophistication.
Good DAY.
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Except if it is toe-cheese. ;-)
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Welllll, I freely admit I'm not the most brilliant of conversationalists, but I'm pretty sure there's a fairly wide range of topics that aren't cheese or puerile reality shows.
But if you want to talk about how Jersey Shore could be merged with Final Destination, I might be interested.
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But if you want to talk about how Jersey Shore could be merged with Final Destination, I might be interested.
Sounds like a kickstarter project! Someone should start it up. Use the current cast of "Jersey Shore" and arrange elaborate accidents and film them!
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Tell the cast that the survivor will be Ultimate Ruler of all New Jersey and have a fragrance named after them. That should work. (You may have to explain what "ultimate" means, or use simpler words.) Of course, the twist at the end is that there are no survivors.
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"Processed cheese" is not cheese. I think it's a petroleum product.
And cutting the cheese (Score:5, Funny)
Obvious geek question (Score:2)
Okay, but when did they figure out how to make pizza?
Re:Obvious geek question, answered (Score:5, Interesting)
Somewhere in the second 6 books, there came a time, after a battle or something, when they had broken all their dinnerware. Someone had the idea to flatten out some dough, put the food on top of it and cook them all together, baking the bread and cooking the food at the same time. While they were eating, Aeneas' son Iulus said hey look everybody, we're eating our plates! Most thought it was just a joke and laughed, but the elders didn't laugh. They were amazed and recognized it as the fulfillment of prophesy made before Iulus was born.
So when you're in Italy and you hear of some restaurant claiming to have invented pizza in medieval times, be sure to ask them, really? How was it that Virgil was able to discuss something that your restaurant hadn't invented yet? Or something similarly snarky.
Rather quickly (Score:3)
Pretty much every culture has its version of the pancake [wikipedia.org], and has had it or variations of it for millennia. Pancakes in its various iterations is one of the oldest recipes out there (sorry I couldn't find the reference off two minutes of googling, but it's basically contemporary with agriculture itself if memory serves). Thus, you can be pretty sure someone tried pancakes with cheese in an oh-so-unmodern way. It's not exactly pizza, but it's pretty close.
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I guess I shouldn't be surprised but wikipedia has it covered, well in excess of Linda Stradley's history and legends post, there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pizza [wikipedia.org]
Yes, there's a whole separate entry for the history bits.
Ob... (Score:5, Funny)
Blessed are the cheese makers.
Re:Ob... (Score:5, Funny)
It's not meant to be taken literally. It refers to any manufacturer of dairy products
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Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ob... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Ob... (Score:5, Funny)
This bit is pretty funny
The art in this cave -- called Lascaux, the Sistine Chapel of cave art -- and in many others that dot parts of France and Spain deservedly ranks with the greatest masterworks of Western art. Yet these paintings have provoked as much vexed speculation as they have wonder and awe: What was their purpose? Why are there so many pictures of animals? The painters had many colors at their disposal, but why do black and red dominate? Why are there no pictures of sky, moon or trees? What are the strange geometric signs found in many of the caves? Why are there few images of people? Just what does it all mean? Such questions have kept generations of scholars and archaeologists busy trying to find a definitive if ever elusive explanation.
Just imagine if in 6000 years all they can find of our current generation is a memes site. Why are there all these images of cats? Why is the same image repeated so many time with different symbols over the top? Why are the animations all in 16 colours rather than a 32bit colour palette?
Future digital archeologist has bad day.... (Score:4)
I'm more enamored with the imagined scenario when they encounter goatse, inadvertently rickroll themselves, then, stumbling away in terror, falling into the pits of 4chan, crawling out of that, only to fall of the cliff into youtube comments.
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...well, that explains a few things (Score:3)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_is_made_of_green_cheese
I keep thinking about milking the first cow... (Score:5, Funny)
People must have looked on and though, "What they heck is he/she doing there?!? Oh my!"
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People must have looked on and though, "What they heck is he/she doing there?!? Oh my!"
Oh, come on, that was a cheesy joke.
Re:I keep thinking about milking the first cow... (Score:5, Funny)
People must have looked on and though, "What they heck is he/she doing there?!? Oh my!"
Oh, come on, that was a cheesy joke.
Are you intolerant of lactose humor?
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It wouldn't have been that remarkable, because people had been already been milking sheep and possibly goats for millenia by the time the cow was domesticated.
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They've been drinking *human* milk even longer.
Re:I keep thinking about milking the first cow... (Score:5, Funny)
I've always wondered how to first guy to drink milk from a cow was able to get the second guy to do it.
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Triple dog dare...duh.
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It probably wasn't a cow. Anyways, why not? Our own offspring would have been nursing, not to mention any other mammals observed.
Re:I keep thinking about milking the first cow... (Score:5, Funny)
It probably wasn't a cow.
You may be right, but I personally think that the idea of it being a bull is too creepy to consider.
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Honestly it was probably something like a goat.
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The Masai have been tapping the blood of bulls to drink for millennia, so it probably wouldn't have been a big stretch to drink the milk of the cows too.
Sharp (Score:2)
Now that would be some well aged sharp cheese.
I need new glasses. (Score:2)
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Yes there is Chinese cheese. (Score:3)
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No, there is very little cheese. Not a lot of Diary in the history of China, that's why 95% are lactose intolerant.
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No, there is very little cheese. Not a lot of Diary in the history of China, that's why 95% are lactose intolerant.
From the article:
"In addition, because most humans could not tolerate lactose well, cheese was more easily digestible than milk. Cheese would have been the perfect way to receive the nutritional benefits of milk without much of the lactose intolerance."
Read more at http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/13493/20121213/humans-eating-cheese-7500-years.htm#GEzfA3bkMaVooLME.99 [medicaldaily.com]
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Re:I need new glasses. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Two big shocks on entering American food/drink culture coming from the UK. A big one was how much a bar != a pub. But bigger was for a nation who consumes so much food, how can its cheese be this bad? 300 million people, surely there's room for a few hundred local decent cheeses? Are there any excellent and widely available varieties?
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We don't seem to have any livestock here that wasn't already being used elsewhere, and given that the majority of the population comes from immigrants, are you really surprised we just have cheeses from other cultures? (pun intended)
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Not surprised by the cheeses from other cultures, just how uniformly poor they were, e.g., was expecting a cheddar, but they were all so incredibly bland; pretty much how fussy young children think cheese should taste.
Have seen how much the beer market's changed, with some delicious US local beers on quite wide distribution. Would have hoped something could have happened with another cultured product.
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I've no problem getting nice flavorful / strong cheeses - usually you have to get them from the deli though. Either sliced, or they have them in wedges/wheels.
The stuff you find in little pre-pack things is crap though.
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Two big shocks on entering American food/drink culture coming from the UK. A big one was how much a bar != a pub. But bigger was for a nation who consumes so much food, how can its cheese be this bad? 300 million people, surely there's room for a few hundred local decent cheeses? Are there any excellent and widely available varieties?
There are good local cheeses, but they are probably produced in such small quantities and so widely geographically distributed, and the market has been so dominated by mass produced crap that it's hard to find if you don't know where to look. And since I live in Canada I don't know where to look in the US either, I don't have much advice. (Though Wisconsin [wisconsincheesemart.com] is supposed to be famous for cheese.)
The situation is not so different in Canada, if you're in major cities and you don't look to hard all you will find
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The last two look especially mouth-watering. Off to raid the fridge and pop open the Port...
Is there a general market for these, or are such flavours still a niche? Trying to work out if the hump stopping wider distribution is formed by supply (existing interests) or demand (tastes too exotic)?
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Being more Euopean than the rest of America, the market for "exotic" cheese in Quebec is pretty healthy and it seems to be growing.
It should not be too hard to find Oka in the US and there's at least one US distributor for du Village [dcicheeseco.com]. In Wisconsin of course.
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First visit was 20 years ago, San Fran and various towns and cities around. Monterey Jack was the most daring on casual display. We found some peppery cheddar in a shop in Sonoma that was interesting, but it reminded us of fruit beers- different taste to the bland, but adding things to the mix ain't the answer.
We spent 3 months in the US a couple of years back, across about 8 states. So not just checking out the airport transit store cracker-toppings. Instead of shouting at me, CONVENIENCE, FFS, answer th
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Wisconsin is known for it's cheese. Or if you're in NYC I would visit the Cheese Factory on Bleecker street in the West Village. I'm not a big fan of cheese (except mild cheeses like Mozzarella) but they've got the best cheeses I've ever tried. The also have a cave downstairs for aged cheeses, didn't visit that since I'm not a fan. My roommates loved it (they're big cheese fans, got them some cheddar and gouda.)
Cheese (Score:4, Insightful)
Cheese is made from milk.
Mod Parent Up (Score:4, Funny)
+1 Insightful.
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With kilns, yes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyyyh8_Afyw [youtube.com]
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Cheese is made from milk.
Possibly. I hear that Kraft cheese is made from a liquid that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike milk.
Re:Cheese (Score:4, Funny)
Cheese is made from milk.
Unless it's Edam, which is made backwards....
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Wow, an after all these years basic humor still escapes some readers.
There is SERIOUS need for a "Woosh" moderation.
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The phrase "fist cheese" is completely nonsensical by any literal reading, and yet evokes such images of horror and disgust that I am searching around right now for my mind bleach.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
In Soviet Russia... (Score:2)
Hovmästarsås (Score:3)
Try to put a sauce named "hovmästarsås" on your cheese. So good it becomes hard to eat cheese without it. Those ignorant Swedes waste it entirely on salmon (hence its second name, "gravlaxsås") which is a profanation. Can be often bought in IKEAs, or made on your own.
Cheese is spoiled milk (Score:2)
Cheese is just spoiled milk just like wine is spoiled grapes and beer is spoiled grain.
This has been going on as long as these things have existed.
Hungry people will try to eat anything even if it has spoiled. Fortunately, sometimes when things spoil, they get better (but don't try this with meat).
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Fermentation is not the same thing as spoiling.
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I've heard of it but I don't think it's "spoiled"... i.e. it's not infected with bacteria or yeast.
Good old Wikipedia gives an answer:
"The process changes beef by two means. Firstly, moisture is evaporated from the muscle. This creates a greater concentration of beef flavour and taste. Secondly, the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef."
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". it's not infected with bacteria or yeast."
wha? that's not what spoiled means.
Spoiled: To become unfit for use or consumption,
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No, it isn't spoiled milk.. or spoiled grain.
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Sounds disgusting .
Give me a break... (Score:2)
It was the first time that researchers had discovered that the ancient civilization used bowls for specific purposes.
Honestly, I'm at a loss for words.
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Why? It's a specific type of bowl that has a single purpose. Unless you have evidence of an older one?
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To eat cheese is to be human. (Score:5, Interesting)
Making and eating cheese, beer, and bread define what it is to be fully human. Any dirty ape can go club a mammoth and bring it back to its den, but to domesticate two different kinds of creatures (a mammal and a bacterium, or a grass and a yeast) and use one to rot the other and come out with something even tastier than the original? That requires massive intelligence, communication, tool use, planning, and social structure.
(PS: if any modern cultures exist that don't eat cheese, beer, or bread, I don't mean to imply that they're not fully human. Their current environment might not have the resources to do these things, but you can bet their ancestors knew how.)
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(PS: if any modern cultures exist that don't eat cheese, beer, or bread, I don't mean to imply that they're not fully human.
Maybe not, but with no cheese, no bread, and no beer, WHAT IS THE DAMN POINT.
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beer
I agree with the other two, but when it comes to beer more civilized societies skipped the rotten grains part and went straight to "tea" (boiling water) when trying to obtain a cleaner source of drinking water.
Re:To eat cheese is to be human. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:To eat cheese is to be human. (Score:5, Informative)
Lactose intolerant people can digest cheese just fine (for the most part). Milk lactose is largely drained with the liquid in the process of curdling, so cheese has little lactose left. That's likely why people used cheese before having developed lactose tolerance - because they discovered it was safe to digest.
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I got shafted on that. I'm intolerant to most fats as well. So cheese, yogurt, anything cooked with vegetable oils...
Odd thing is I can have bacon and lard, but hamburger fat is like poison to me.
We've eaten cheese a lot longer than that (Score:3)
The stomach of a young mammal naturally turns milk into curds and when. It solidifies the milk so that it digests more slowly, and the young mammal gets more out of it. Our ancestors turned breast milk into a primitive cheese, in their stomachs.
When a baby spits up milk, think about what it looks like - it's curds. Our ability to make curds from milk disappears about the same time our so-called milk-teeth start falling out.
As a result, to make cheese, you need the stomach lining of a young mammal to turn your milk to curds. Old mammals have lost the ability.
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Rennet. [wikipedia.org] It's a good thing.
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I make cheese, including paneer, which is just pressed cheese curds. In fact, several types of cheeses are made from simple curds, including cottage cheese and quark.
The only ass in this thread is you.
Followed closely by.... (Score:2, Funny)
The earliest known case of lactose intolerance. Cause and effect.
Cheese (Score:2)
So the next time someone complains when I cannon rush them in Stacraft 2, I can tell them not to be so mad, cheesing has been going on for 7500 years already...
No Monty Python reference yet? (Score:2)
Sorry but this would not be /. without a Monty Python Cheese reference. So do you actually have any Cheese, Cleese?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_Shop_sketch
Not in China (Score:3)
You don't actually see any cheese in China, unless you go to posh restaurant which provides foreign food.
Re:Yes, because cheese is.. (Score:5, Insightful)
This may come as a shock to you, but some of us find our history interesting and want to learn something other than the difference between the GPL 2.0 and GPL 3.0 or how much skin some "genius" chews off his foot in public places. This is interesting because it represented a huge leap forward for humans. It meant a greater variety of food sources were available which makes eating a much more stable proposition. It also meant that people could start making longer term plans.
When those sorts of things happen the result is time to pursue things like "knowledge" and a greater understanding of the world around us. The reason that dweebs like us are free to enrich ourselves (i.e. browse pr0n on the web) is because it takes fewer people to produce the food that we eat. Obtaining sustenance is kinda high up on the list of priorities and is something everybody either does or thinks about multiple times per day.
So yeah, this is kind of big news. This is a case where the information is in the main stream media because it is interesting for us as well as for the normals. Rather than complain that other people are interested in nerdy shit we should be happy that other people still have enough of a sense of curiosity to learn about this instead of simply trying to reach for the remote why spilling their cheetos all over themselves as they try to turn to the cartoon channel to get away from intesmegmalectual crap like this.
Oh yeah, and next time you see something that is not interesting to you, you might want to try not complaining about it rather than trying to belittle anyone around you who might find it interesting. You know, kinda like the assholes who are always scoffing at your interest in the latest developments in the Python code base and how it impacts the postgrsql connector class.
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I remember seeing a scientific magazine discussing the history and chemistry of bread and beer, and how it was unclear which came first in history or whether or not one helped lead to the other.
That article was 20 years ago, and it is probably only one of 3 articles I can even remember specifically from the history of that magazine.
The interests of "nerds" are varied, and honestly I think you are an idiot and don't really understand "nerd" culture (no pun intended) if you are so narrow-minded that you think
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Its thinking like that enabled your forebears to survive and produce you. As for you, what will you do now that Twinkies are gone?
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You are aware most things under that list you link to are incorrect, or not logical comparisons, right?
Of course you don't. thinking about them would go against your hate.
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Hey! See that thing over there with the legs? Let's make stuff from the stuff that comes out of it.
This is technically descriptive of the male contribution to sexual reproduction.
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It's also kind of disturbing when you consider nursing.
Human cheese? That sounds wrong.
You blaspheme! (Score:2)