Dear Sara,
I love cheese, even though I know it’s not good for me. How long has this delicious dairy product been around? – Inquisitively, Liz P.
Dear Liz,
According to an article published Dec. 12, 2012 in the journal Nature and reported on Dec. 13, 2012 by the Los Angeles Times, researchers at Princeton University have determined from shards of ancient pottery that cheese-making was going on in the area that is now Poland for at least 7,000 years. The pottery shards have tiny holes in them (and contained traces of milk fat) that suggest the original containers were used from separating curds from whey. As most humans of that era were lactose intolerant (this sounds like the set-up for a joke, but it’s not), this enabled the ancient cheese-makers to retain the curds for cheese and discard the whey, which contains most of the lactose.
It’s In The Bag,
Sara Bellum, Editor-at-Large Buzzy Mag
