Ah, cheese. Until those silly California cows started their “happy” dance of cheese-making, Wisconsin served as the number-one source of good cheese in the United States.
But as a Wisconsin native, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that we take our cheese much more seriously than anyone in California.
Take our elementary education, which surrounds a cheese culture. We read, in great detail, the description of cheese-making in Little House in the Big Woods. (Did you know that you can follow those directions fairly precisely and end up with good cheese? Now you do.) The need for clean comes through very precisely in that description, and the process of aging and ripening farmer’s cheese also is accurately depicted.
The “green” cheese that Laura writes about serves as a hot commodity in some cheese houses across the state, and we all know very precisely how squeaky fresh cheese curds should be. Stop in at any cheese house, grocery store or gas station in Wisconsin, and you can buy those curds by the bag, ready for snacking on the road. Add some fresh locally produced summer sausage or beef sticks, and you’ve got lunch.
In fourth grade, all elementary students learn about the history of their state, and we all learn specifically about the many varieties of cheese made in the state. In my fourth grade classroom, each student was assigned a variety of cheese to bring to class on “Cheese-Tasting Day.” I believe I brought a blue cheese. We all tasted every variety brought by each member of each class in my school, some 60 different kinds of cheese, and we learned about the differences in aging, texture, and production that made each cheese distinct.
I don’t know if they do that anymore, but I do know that cheese remains an integral part of Wisconsin culture. Just look at our football team: The Green Bay Packers (named for the meatpacking industry there), the only publicly owned football team in the NFL, have embraced the symbol of the foam wedge of cheese, selling them at Lambeau Field and elsewhere, offering us all a form of solidarity.
And yes, I own a “cheesehead.” I would venture to say, despite my transplanting to Minnesota, I remain a cheesehead.
When we read the Little House books, sometimes we think about how accurately each might portray the culture in which Laura lived at the time.
Have no doubt. When in Wisconsin, you make cheese.
Yum! Nothing says “Wisconsin” like beef sticks and cheese. Some people I know have a son in Wisconsin, and since they know how much I love the beef sticks, they bring me back a bag of them whenever they go. Wish I had some now.