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The Cheese of the Week: Cheese at the Bottom of the Box
The cheese at the bottom of the box is perhaps one of the most familiar cheeses, without people actually realizing that it is a kind of cheese. How many of us have enjoyed a pizza with friends, only to pick at the leftover cheese after all the slices were gone.
Cheese at the bottom of the box got its start in the early 1940s, when pizza started becoming popular after soldiers returned home from WWII and wanted to be able to enjoy the pizza they had been introduced to overseas. Granted, the first pizza places had opened in the U.S. in the early 1900’s, but not with the success that came in the 40’s, and certainly not with delivery.
The first boxes that cheese got stuck to were nothing more than a piece of cardboard wrapped in a paper bag. However, this clearly lacked the structural solidity and the heat retention to sufficiently keep pizzas staying hot and fresh.
By the 1960’s the corrugated pizza box was invented, though no one knows whom it was created by, as several people have claimed responsibility for it. Tom Monoghan, founder of Dominos, says that it is the corrugated box was what really helped pizza delivery take off, and is credits it for the growth of his company.
So maybe this edition of ‘cheese of the week’ was more about pizza boxes, but without the box what would the cheese stick to? Indeed.
Best For: Picking off the bottom and eating the morning after.
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