How Cheesemaking Has Remained Essentially Unchanged Since It Was First Discovered

In a nutritive lesson for TED, educator and author Paul S. Kindstedt took a page from his own book Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and its Place in Western Civilization, in order to explain how cheese was discovered and how cheesemaking has survived essentially unchanged for so long without much interruption.

Before empires and royalty, before pottery and writing, before metal tools and weapons – there was cheese. As early as 8000 BCE, Neolithic farmers began a legacy of cheesemaking almost as old as civilization. Today, the world produces roughly 22 billion kilograms of cheese a year, shipped and consumed around the globe. Paul Kindstedt shares the history of one of our oldest and most beloved foods.

The video was animated by Charlotte Chambon and narrated by Addison Anderson.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.