The phrase “big cheese” originates from the Persian and Hindi word “chiz” which means “thing.” In 1886, Sir Henry Yule wrote that “it was common among Anglo-Indians” to say something is “the real big chiz.” The “big chiz” became “big cheese.” The phrase is most commonly used to refer to someone of importance or, in the least, someone who thinks he/she is the big cheese.
The terms "Big Wheel" and "Big Cheese" originally referred to those who were wealthy enough to purchase a whole wheel of cheese.
Talking about cheese, when a Uruguayan ship ran out of canon balls during an 1865 battle against Brazil they fired the next best thing: stale Dutch cheeses. It dismasted an enemy ship.
Cheese Trivia
United States Cheese production in 2009 was more than 10.1 billion pounds (10,109,293,000 pounds). (USDA, 2010)
Greeks eat more cheese than anyone else, per capita consumption averages 54 pounds.
What appears to be the remains of cheese have been found in Egyptian tombs over 4,000 years old.
More than one-third of all milk produced each year in the U.S. is used to make cheese.
The USDA issued new guidelines in 2002 regulating the size of the holes in domestically produced Swiss cheese. The size of the holes was reduced by 50% to accommodate modern cheese slicing machines that jammed with the larger holes.
Turophilia is a love of or obsession with cheese.
All cheese is made from milk, but different manufacturing and aging processes are used to produce the array of cheeses available today. Cheese is made by coagulating or curdling milk, stirring and heating the curd, draining off the whey (the watery part of milk), collecting and pressing the curd, and in some cases, ripening. Cheese can be made from whole, 2% lowfat, 1% lowfat or fat-free milk, or combinations of these milks. About one-third of all milk produced each year in the U.S. is used to make cheese.
Consuming cheese immediately after meals or as a between-meal snack helps to reduce the risk of tooth decay. Certain cheeses - aged Cheddar, Swiss, blue, Monterey Jack, Brie, Gouda and processed American cheese - have been shown to help prevent tooth decay. Calcium, phosphorus and other components in cheese may contribute to this beneficial effect.
Cheese was popular in ancient Greece and Rome, but fresh milk and butter were not. This was probably due to the fact that olive oil was available in the Mediterranean area, where the climate would have spoiled milk and butter quickly.
Cheese takes up about 1/10 the volume of the milk it was made from.
Greek historian Xenophon (430?-355? B.C.) mentions that goat cheese had been known for centuries in Peloponnesus.
The final Curious © phrase:
“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese”
(Jon Hammond)
