Posted by I was at the deli section in the grocery store last night to buy some lunch meats and swiss cheese when the old lady behind the counter exclaimed, “Oh thank God that you like cheese!” When I gave her a confused look, she continued, “Well because many ethnic people don’t like cheese.”
I was a little taken aback at her word choice but she appeared just to be making an honest observation, not out of prejudice. So, I replied that I had grown up eating cheese. She speculated whether milk (cow or goat) isn’t as readily available. It is but the uses for milk in the motherland don’t include making cheese. South Asians make yogurts, curds and desserts out of milk but not cheese, which might explain their consternation when first confronted with the substance.
I can recall that a couple of my cousins didn’t like cheese when they first moved to the USA. Eventually the genius of late night pizza converted them.
