The US President Who Threw A Party For A 1400lb Block Of Cheese
For many, cheese is like a drug — in fact, studies have shown it's not just your imagination if you find yourself with a slight addiction to the dairy product. Cheese contains a product called casein, which "releases opiates called casomorphins" into the body during digestion, causing your body to crave more, according to the Los Angeles Times. So, the idea of cheese festivals, including the Cheese Rolling Festival in Gloucestershire, where participants roll down a hill for an 8-pound cheese wheel, might appeal to some — or perhaps the virtual Big Block of Cheese Festival, which began during the Obama years, honoring a 1,400-pound cheese that was once present in the White House may be a more sedate way to celebrate the fromage.
Fans of "The West Wing" may have wondered if there was any truth behind this Season 2 speech by character Leo McGarry, in which he says, "Andrew Jackson, in the main foyer of the White House, had a two-ton block of cheese. It was there, for any and all who were hungry, it was there for the voiceless." The answer is "yes," there is some truth to it — but only some. The actual cheese was a gift from dairy farmer Colonel Thomas S. Meacham, and it did sit in the White House for a year, but only on display. Mental Floss reported that Jackson decided to dispose of the cheese by inviting anyone interested in consuming it; however, this caused a few issues.
Inside President Jackson's 'block' party
According to Food & Wine, President Andrew Jackson was gifted the cheese because people thought that, since President Thomas Jefferson also received a large block of cheese, President Jackson should, too. Mental Floss noted that, when he opened the White House and invited the public to come partake of the massive cheese block, chaos ensued, with one spectator saying, "A day more disgustingly spent in the President's house there could not with difficulty be ... Pockets, hats, handkerchiefs, everything was filled with cheese." (One can only imagine the large-scale clean up the White House staff had to endure afterward!)
While the fromage may have lived in the White House for a year, and disappeared somewhat abruptly along with Jackson's tenure as president, the lingering smell stayed on as a reminder to new president, Martin Van Buren. Sen. John Davis' wife, Eliza, wrote in 1838, "had a hard task to get rid of the smell of the cheese, and in the room where it was cut, he had to air the carpet for many days," according to Mental Floss.
Whether amused by the idea of the cheese history, or the sentiment inspired by "The West Wing," the Obama administration attempted its own Big Block of Cheese Festival. While no one was able to physically be there, the aim was to allow members of the public to virtually ask questions they had always wanted to ask the White House staff. Unfortunately, the tradition seems to have been discontinued with subsequent presidents.