Cheese

Another day, another blog post about my thoughts and observations of Italy. This one is special to me because it about something that I have been dealing with a lot of my life – my aversion of cheese (thanks Mom for the idea). I absolutely hate it. I think is smells gross, it looks gross, and I don’t understand why people eat it. But here in Italy, cheese is a staple. Grated over pasta, put into ravioli, or eaten for antipasti, cheese is a staple in the Italian diet.

Let me shed some background light on this topic. I am not lactose-intolerant (I can drink milk by the gallon and eat ice cream by the pint) and I actually used to eat cheese (apparently I used to eat mac-and-cheese twice a day when I was young). One day something changed. People have asked me what happened (i.e. why did you stop eating cheese) and I can tell you that I have no answer to that question (aka I have no idea what happened). I do eat mozzarella cheese (both fresh and melted onto pizza), but everything else really grosses me out…

… and here are my reasons why:

- I am perfectly happy without having cheese in my diet.

- I have not eaten it in SO long, that I am unsure if I will even like it anymore.

- My parents were betting that I would come home from Italy proclaiming my love of cheese… sorry Mom and Dad, not happening.

- I do regret my dislike of it… this pickiness of mine will adversely affect my future career as a FoodNetwork superstar (not really a reason why I don’t like it, just an observation).

- Watching people eat the American cheese singles straight (not in grilled cheese) really grosses me out.

- Some types smell like feet (no offense), which in turn makes my fridge and all the food in it smell like feet.

- I don’t get the appeal of eating cheese straight from the block…. No crackers??

- Why eat cheese when you could have a piece of cake instead (or ice cream or fruit salad, or…)?

- Why would you eat something that has mold on it (I am looking at you blue cheese)?

- I am way too set in my ways (and probably way too stubborn) to even consider trying cheese again.

For all the cheese lovers out there, I am sorry (I sincerely apologize if I have offended you). I know that we have some pretty fabulous cheese here in Italy and it is being totally wasted on me. The cheese making demonstration that I watched this weekend was really cool and I enjoyed watching it. But I have decided that cheese and I will never be friends, which is okay. Here’s to a (mostly) cheese-less study abroad!

Ciao!