By: Emery Curtis

Graphics Editor

Cheese is everywhere, but it really doesn’t need to be, because it ruins perfectly good dishes. It’s safe to say that the majority of people in the world love cheese. A lot of European cultures incorporate it into their dishes, and Americans love to deep fry it or pour it over everything. However, this overuse of cheese must stop. 

First of all, consuming excessive cheese is incredibly unhealthy. The high concentrations of saturated fats and sodium do not pair well with the lack of taste that cheese offers. Because of this, the “benefit” of having cheese on your meals is not worth it. 

I’m a chronic cheese-avoider and for a very good reason. At every restaurant, I automatically say, “No cheese” just so my food won’t be smothered in it. No matter what I order, chefs top their dishes with an abominable amount of cheese. Salad? Pasta? Sandwich? Tacos? What do they all have in common? Cheese. And none of them need it! Whenever cheese is grated over a dish, it’s all you can taste. These great foods become vessels for cheese just so people can eat more of it. Dishes should stop relying on moldy milk to be good. Burgers taste phenomenal without cheddar melted into the patty, I’m just saying. 

Cheese also masks all the other great flavors in a dish, like the spices in the sauce or the freshness of the vegetables. Cheese is not always needed; there are other aspects of the recipes that make them delicious. Certain dressings on salads, seasoned meats in a soup, or a variety of vegetables in a sandwich bring out more flavors than cheese ever will. Even how cheese is made is disgusting. They start by curdling milk, which is the first step towards spoilage. It smells like decay and definitely does not help to make it appetizing. Especially blue cheese, how does one eat that? The blue spots are literally mold. 

And even if you do enjoy cheese, you should be able to tell the waiter when to stop adding to the mountainous pile of parmesan on your pasta. Like at a potluck or dinner where you are providing food, 9 out of 10 people sprinkle cheese on any dish, but for that one person, why not just put it on the side? Please!

Cheese is obviously a very cultural aspect of many dishes, especially in Europe, so getting rid of it completely isn’t an option, but I do advocate for limiting the gooey yellow substance taking over cuisine. I will die on the hill saying that food should not include cheese by default.