| Ancient Greek mythology credited | | | | in Europe was slow during the centuries |
| Aristaeus with the discovery of cheese. | | | | after Rome's fall. Many of the cheeses |
| Homer's Odyssey (8th century BCE) | | | | we know best today were first recorded |
| describes the Cyclops making and storing | | | | in the late Middle Ages or after— |
| sheep's and goats' milk cheese. From | | | | cheeses like cheddar around 1500 CE, |
| Samuel Butler's translation: | | | | Parmesan in 1597, Gouda in 1697, and |
| We soon reached his cave, but he was out | | | | Camembert in 1791. |
| shepherding, so we went inside and took | | | | In 1546, John Heywood wrote in Proverbes |
| stock of all that we could see. His | | | | that "the moon is made of a greene |
| cheese-racks were loaded with cheeses, | | | | cheese." (Greene refers here not to the |
| and he had more lambs and kids than his | | | | color, as many now think, but to being |
| pens could hold... | | | | new or unaged.)[3] Variations on this |
| When he had so done he sat down and | | | | sentiment were long repeated. Although |
| milked his ewes and goats, all in due | | | | some people assumed that this was a |
| course, and then let each of them have | | | | serious belief in the era before space |
| her own young. He curdled half the milk | | | | exploration, it is more likely that |
| and set it aside in wicker strainers... | | | | Heywood was indulging in nonsense. |
| By Roman times, cheese was an everyday | | | | Modern era |
| food and cheesemaking a mature art, not | | | | Until its modern spread along with |
| very different from what it is today. | | | | European culture, cheese was nearly |
| Columella's De Re Rustica (circa 65 CE) | | | | unheard of in oriental cultures, |
| details a cheesemaking process involving | | | | uninvented in the pre-columbian |
| rennet coagulation, pressing of the | | | | Americas, and of only limited use in |
| curd, salting, and aging. Pliny's | | | | sub-mediterranean Africa, mainly being |
| Natural History (77 CE) devotes a | | | | widespread and popular only in Europe |
| chapter (XI, 97) to describing the | | | | and areas influenced strongly by its |
| diversity of cheeses enjoyed by Romans | | | | cultures. But with the spread, first of |
| of the early Empire. He stated that the | | | | European imperialism, and later of |
| best cheeses came from the villages near | | | | Euro-American culture and food, cheese |
| Nîmes, but did not keep long and had to | | | | has gradually become known and |
| be eaten fresh. Cheeses of the Alps and | | | | increasingly popular worldwide, though |
| Apennines were as remarkable for their | | | | still rarely considered a part of local |
| variety then as now. A Ligurian cheese | | | | ethnic cuisine. |
| was noted for being made mostly from | | | | The first factory for the industrial |
| sheep's milk, and some cheeses produced | | | | production of cheese opened in |
| nearby were stated to weigh as much as a | | | | Switzerland in 1815, but it was in the |
| thousand pounds each. Goats' milk cheese | | | | United States where large-scale |
| was a recent taste in Rome, improved | | | | production first found real success. |
| over the "medicinal taste" of Gaul's | | | | Credit usually goes to Jesse Williams, a |
| similar cheeses by smoking. Of cheeses | | | | dairy farmer from Rome, New York, who in |
| from overseas, Pliny preferred those of | | | | 1851 started making cheese in an |
| Bithynia in Asia Minor. | | | | assembly-line fashion using the milk |
| Post-classical Europe | | | | from neighboring farms. Within decades |
| Rome spread a uniform set of | | | | hundreds of such dairy associations |
| cheesemaking techniques throughout much | | | | existed. |
| of Europe, and introduced cheesemaking | | | | The 1860s saw the beginnings of |
| to areas without a previous history of | | | | mass-produced rennet, and by the turn of |
| it. As Rome declined and long-distance | | | | the century scientists were producing |
| trade collapsed, cheese in Europe | | | | pure microbial cultures. Before then, |
| diversified further, with various | | | | bacteria in cheesemaking had come from |
| locales developing their own distinctive | | | | the environment or from recycling an |
| cheesemaking traditions and products. | | | | earlier batch's whey; the pure cultures |
| France and Italy are the nations with | | | | meant a more standardized cheese could |
| the most diversity in locally made | | | | be produced. |
| cheeses— today with approximately 400 | | | | Factory-made cheese overtook traditional |
| each. (A French proverb holds there is a | | | | cheesemaking in the World War II era, |
| different French cheese for every day of | | | | and factories have been the source of |
| the year, and Charles de Gaulle once | | | | most cheese in America and Europe ever |
| asked "how can you govern a country in | | | | since. Today, Americans buy more |
| which there are 246 kinds of cheese?" | | | | processed cheese than "real", |
| Still, the advancement of the cheese art | | | | factory-made or not. |