Happy New Year, cheeselovers! If you’ve ever heard of the Sardinian contraband cheese casu marzu, you know that it’s not for the faint of heart. After flies deposit their eggs in this cheese, the hatched maggots create an enzyme that putrefies the cheese (watch a video here). Local wisdom suggests covering the cheese with your hand during consumption to protect your eyes from jumping maggots. Sardinians swear no one has fallen ill from consuming the cheese. We’ll choose to believe them.

Here’s what you might have missed this week in cheesy news:

• Emmi Roth recently acquired a blue cheese production plant from the Great Lakes Cheese Company. Fingers crossed we start seeing more cheese ASAP. 
    
• Climate change has affected the fate of Mongolian nomadic herders over the past decades. Their plight might provide a glimpse into the troubled future of the American and European dairy industry.  
   
• Celebrate the weekend by whipping up a Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti casserole that would make your grandmother proud.  
   
• Cheese Tea is on track to be a U.S. food trend in 2019. A Meyer lemon and mascarpone version has already hit San Francisco, and we project its popularity will keep climbing. 
   
• Roses and chocolates are overrated. This year, Aldi’s is rolling out heart-shaped cheeses for Valentine’s Day, including a Wensleydale with raspberries and white chocolate for your sweet-toothed honey.   
   
• Hmm. The University of Michigan recently released a study that found chemicals in cheese similar to addictive drugs. At least we know why our self-control deserts us in the face of a gooey baked brie. 
   
  
• If you love chatting about cheddar, here’s a brief history of the beloved cheese that began as a regional specialty and bloomed to be King of the Cheese. 

Madeline Upson

A longtime lover of cheese and wine nights, Madeline finally got to use her love of cheese as former Editorial Assistant at Culture Magazine.