No one knows who made the first cheese,
but an old legend says that it was an Arabian merchant.
He put his milk in a pouch made from a sheep's
stomach and set off across the desert.
The jouncing of his camel, the desert heat,
and the chemicals in the pouch made the milk separate into curds and whey.
The thick part, or curd, was the first cheese.
Ancient records show that cheese has been eaten for more than four thousand years.
From earliest times it has been considered a very nourishing food.
Americans eat less cheese than people in some countries do,
yet they still consume eight to ten pounds a year per person.
Today cheese is made all over the world.
Most cheese is made from cow's milk,
but supply of this milk is greater throughout the world.
Smaller quantities come from the milk of other animals-
goats, sheep, camels and even reindeer.
The word"discovery" literally means,
uncovering something that's hidden from view.
But what really happens is a change in the viewer.
The familiar offers comfort few can resist,
and fewer still want to disturb.
But as relatively recent inventions such as the telescope
and microscope have taught us, the unknown has many layers.
Every truth has geological strata,
and you can't have an orthodoxy without a heresy.
The moment a newborn opens its eyes, discovery begins.
I learned this with a laugh one morning after delivering a calf.
When it lifted up its fluffy head and looked at me,
its eyes held the absolute bewilderment of the newly born.
A moment before it had the even black nowhere of the womb,
and suddenly its world was full of colour, movement and noise.
I've never seen anything so shocked to be alive.