January 20, 2012: Where's the Beef? In My Sandwich!

Relegated, once again, to that great cafeteria in the basement. Tonight, the sandwich ravagers had struck again. It is an interesting phenomenon, in fact one that caused a security camera to be installed in the "executive dining room," but sporadically someone comes through the cafeteria and takes 90% of the sandwiches within about an hour of them being placed into the see through refrigerator.

Since the in-house doctors in training all eat free in the "big cafeteria" that has many choices, I always wonder who is coming through the "executive" dining area and carting off 20-30 sandwiches. Whoever it is, they don't like pimento cheese. But of the 3 remaining sandwiches, a roast beef managed to get left out. And I took it.

I have to say, these sandwiches are good filler. They aren't gourmet, but if you are hungry, they do the trick.

Mine had American cheese--pretty much the only cheese in the hospital--on it. When I grew up, I thought there were only two cheeses in the world:

I had no idea there was anything else until I started doing my own grocery shopping when I moved to the dorm at UTC in 1976. Even then, there weren't that many cheeses at Kroger or Red Food Store. They did have Swiss. But Provolone? Monterrey Jack? I would have just thought these were characters in a sphagetti western. Emmental and Richelieu? To me, the names of princes and princesses in Monaco or Lichtenstein! I never saw even those cheeses until the early 90s although bleu and Boursin and even goat were available--not that I could afford those until the mid 1990s.

So I could give you a roast beef quiz, but when I looked that up in urban dictionary, that would be an X rated quiz. And I don't want to embarrass anyone by having them fail a test about obscure reproductive slang. (Admit it. You are going to go look this up in URBAN DICTIONARY. Believe me, the definitions are pretty nauseating.)

So instead, I am going to give you a CHEESE QUIZ. Not an urban dictionary cheese quiz...I am sure that would be equally inappropriate for a food blog.
A real, honest to god cheese quiz. Rusty, you said you would do better next time, so here is your chance.

1. Which of the following is NOT a type of cheese?
A. quark
B. bishop kennedy
C. duddleswell
D. washed brined
E. quercy petit

2. What country produces the most cheese on this planet?
A. Switzerland
B. France
C. China
D. Brazil
E. The USA

3. True or False. Cheese can improve dental health.

4. Which of the following statements regarding cheese is INCORRECT?
A. Cheese consumption late at night is associated with nightmares.
B. The International Dairy Federation recognizes 500 types of cheese.
C. Cheese production predates recorded history.
D. Greece has the highest per capita cheese consumption worldwide, but a
relatively low incidence of heart disease.
E. The national dish of Bhutan, ema datsi, contains yak cheese.

5. True or False. Casu Marzu is a Sardinian cheese fermented with maggots.

Okay. Now it is time to find out if YOU are a:

Answers:

1. D Although there is a washed RIND cheese. All the others are REAL.

2. E Yeah, I was surprised too! US followed by Germany and #3 France.
However, France EXPORTS the most cheese followed by Germany and the
Netherlands.

3. TRUE. Eat up!

4. A. Cheese actually promotes good sleep! Also, the IDF says there are 500
types of cheese but some other organization say they aren't the big
cheese and that there are 1000 types! Greeks eat the most cheese.
Maybe that explains something...but I don't know what. Frenchies are
#2 and these countries don't have particularly high heart disease
numbers. Bring on the red wine! Lastly if Bhutan does not = yak..What
does?

5. True. Some people meticulously remove the maggots, but many just eat
them. Remember. These are the folks that invented sardines.