The Incredible History of Cheese: A 7,000-Year-Old Story of Farming, Culture, and Creativity
Cheese is one of those foods that feels simple on the surface, but when you look closely, it carries with it thousands of years of history, culture, and creativity. Today we see cheese in supermarkets, on pizza, in sandwiches, or in fancy gourmet stores. But what many do not realize is that cheese has been with humanity for over 7,000 years, and it tells us as much about the story of farming and survival as it does about taste and enjoyment. The earliest evidence of cheese-making goes back to around 5500 BCE in what is now Poland. Archaeologists have found ancient pottery with tiny holes in it, believed to be used as strainers for curds and whey. This discovery shows that our ancestors had already figured out how to transform milk into a longer-lasting and more digestible form of food. Milk, at that time, was difficult for many adults to digest because lactose tolerance had not yet spread widely among human populations. Turning milk into cheese not only preserved it but als...