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Thanks to archaeologists, we now know that humans have been eating cheese for a very long time. Many historians claim that when our ancestors had an excess of milk, they turned to making cheese. Many ancient civilisations, such as Sumerians and ancient Greeks, were familiar with the dairy item and used it in their daily lives. In fact, ancient Greeks loved their cheese so much that they often rewarded their children with little pieces of it.
Perhaps it was the Greeks’ love for their cheese that led them to invent cheesecake - a popular dessert now consumed across the world. It is believed that cheesecake originated in ancient Greece, from where it soon travelled to Rome, and then on to the rest of the world. The Greek island of Samos, where anthropologists have found cheese moulds that date back to 2,000 BC, is usually linked to the discovery of cheesecake.
The earliest-known recipe of Greek cheesecake only came about in 230 AD, when Athenaeus wrote the following recipe: "Take some cheese and pound it, put in a brazen sieve and strain it, then add honey and flour made from spring wheat and heat the whole together into one mass."
Since Greek cheesecake was made from honey and wheat, it was considered to be a great source of energy. This is the reason why many historians believe that cheesecake was served to athletes who participated in the first-ever Olympic games held in Greece in 776 BC.
Aside from its nutritional popularity, cheesecake was also widely used in Greek traditions. In the ancient city of Argos, it was a wedding custom for brides to bring cheesecakes for the bridegroom's friends 一 a ritual that is still followed today.
As the ancient empires formed and declined, the cheesecake travelled from Greece to the rest of the world, often with some new modifications. The early Romans prepared lavish cheesecakes using a variety of ingredients and served them during feasts and celebrations. Gradually, the dessert made its way to Europe where many early cookbooks were filled with its recipes. As the Europeans migrated to new worlds, the cheesecake found new homes in many places, including America - which popularised the now-famous cheesecake varieties of Philadelphia and New York.
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