Question Sheet: A Taste for Cheese

By Science News Explores

SCIENCE

Before reading:

  1. Why do you think cheese is a popular food? 

  2. If you were a food scientist, how would you try to improve cheese?

During reading:

  1. Who eats more cheese per person per year: people in the United States, France, Greece, or Denmark? 

  2. What’s one popular story about how cheese was first made? 

  3. Where is the enzyme rennet found? 

  4. What makes Swiss cheese different from other cheeses? 

  5. Why do pizza chefs need to let mozzarella sit? 

  6. How is processed cheese different from traditional cheese? 

  7. In what ways are dairy researchers trying to improve cheeses and the process of cheese making?

After reading:

  1. Making cheese can involve a lot of science. What other foods do you think might require a similar level of scientific and engineering expertise and research? Why? 

  2. What kind of science would a person interested in studying cheese need to know? 

  3. What problems might come up if you were trying to lower the fat content of a cheese? For information about developing a low-fat cheese, see www.chancellor.wisc.edu/yourworld/2223.html(University of Wisconsin). 

  4. Design an experiment that involves cheese. 

  5. What advantages might cheese makers who use small batches of milk have over

    large-scale producers? 

  6. People often eat cheese-flavored snacks, such as Doritos, Cheetos, or Cheez-It crackers. How do manufacturers add the cheese flavor to such foods? For information on flavoring snack foods, see www.foodproductdesign.com/archive/1997/0597AP.html(Food Product Design). 

  7. Many people can’t drink milk or eat dairy products. Why does this happen? See www.sickkids.on.ca/kidshealth/spring02vol3issue1/gotmilk.asp (The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto).

SOCIAL STUDIES

Why do you think cheese is more popular in France, Greece, and Denmark than it is in the United States? What is the most popular type of cheese in France? in Greece? in Denmark? See www.cheese-france.com/club/top10_cheese.htm (Cheese-France),

www.allcorfu.com/cuisine.html (Corfu, Greece), and encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/List+of+cheeses (TheFreeDictionary.com).

LANGUAGE ARTS

  1. A famous nursery rhyme begins with the words “Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, . . .” What was she eating? Explain why this dish might have been on her menu? What’s a “tuffet”? You can learn more about the history and meaning of this nursery rhyme at www.brookmans.com/history/littlemissmuffet.shtml(Brookmans Park Newsletter). 

  2. Put together a little book of favorite recipes (your own and those of your friends) that include cheese as an ingredient. You should aim for at least eight recipes.

MATHEMATICS

The following table shows the average amount of cheese (in pounds) eaten per person in 13 countries of the world.

Country
Pounds per year
Denmark
63
Greece
57
France
54
Italy
49
Germany
43
United States
33
Australia
31
Canada
27
United Kingdom
22
New Zealand
18
Spain
15
Mexico
5

Plot the data as a horizontal bar graph, with country along the vertical axis and the amount of cheese per person along the horizontal axis. Find the mean, median, and mode.