Dietribes: Cheesecake
"¢ Cheesecake may have been around since ancient Greece, where Cato wrote recipes for religious use using placenta (er ...) that was later substituted with soft cheese, which was eventually developed into cream cheese. Cheesecake can be baked or unbaked and can be used in conjunction with an array of different cheeses as its base. The first recipes for "modern" cheesecake arose in the 1400s.
"¢ We all know that cheesecake and the like can be "addicting," but really addicting? Rats fed Ho Hos, sausage, pound cake, bacon and cheesecake behaved similar to rats addicted to heroin.
"¢ Despite (or maybe because!) of it, some people can't get enough - the Golden Girls consumed over 100 cheesecakes during the show's 7-year run, while food competition winner Sonya Thomas consumed 11 pounds of cheese cake in 9 minutes, but it wasn't easy: "When I finished my throat was super sore and my stomach totally hurt. I almost had to go to the emergency room. That's the only time I've thrown up from eating."
"¢ In another example off too much cake, truck driver Gary LaSalle left his big rig and refrigerated trailer parked near Orlando International Airport in 2009 with a group of similar delivery trucks. He took the keys with him, but left the cooling unit running on the trailer to protect his valuable cargo, which he would be delivering to North Carolina in the morning. When he returned the next day, his $50,000 truck, the $120,000 trailer and its contents—6,000 cheesecakes, valued at $40,000—were gone. The police investigation is ongoing, but its doubtful the cheesecakes will ever be found.
"¢ Cheesecake can find itself in some strange places, such as on the back of postage stamps. "Haagen-Dazs and Austrian Postal Service launched a series of stamps infused flavors like Cookies & Cream, Macadamia Nut Brittle and Strawberry Cheesecake into the adhesive on the back." Cheesecake can also, apparently, be infused with alligator meat.
"¢ Those who celebrate National Cheesecake Day (July 30) may never have their fill, but Frank Sinatra certainly did when filming "Guys and Dolls." After filming repeated takes of the scene where Sky (Marlon Brando) and Nathan (Sinatra) first meet, the actors had to quit for the day after Sinatra had too much cheesecake, saying he could not take one more bite. Practical joker (some would say jerk) Brando, knowing how much Sinatra hated cheesecake, purposely flubbed each take so that Sinatra would have to eat piece after piece. The next day, they came back and shot the scene perfectly on the first take.
"¢ A cheesecake for your troubles: New York's police chief once personally delivered a cheesecake to an elderly couple in Brooklyn to apologize for dozens of mistaken police visits to their home. A computer glitch had led officers to Walter and Rose Martin's home 50 times in the past eight years.
"¢ Sara Lee's first product was cheesecake, and I don't mean pin-up girls. "Cheesecake" in a slang term that is synonymous (to some) with "pin-up photo." Legend has it that the origins of the phrase came from saying a sexy/pretty woman was "better than cheesecake." Do any of you Flossers know more about it?
"¢ In the category of "just because": the story of Cheesecake, the missing (and quickly found!) and ridiculously cute mini horse.
"¢ So Flossers, where do we find the best cheesecake? (and I mean cake, not pin-up girls!) Does anyone make their own on the regular, or do you just stand salivating at the bakery counter of the Cheesecake Factory?
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"˜Dietribes' appears every other Wednesday. Food photos taken by Johanna Beyenbach. You might remember that name from our post about her colorful diet.