The big cheese at the big fair

In 1893, the Columbian Exposition, otherwise known as the Chicago World’s Fair, opened its gates to more than 27 million visitors who visited 65,000 displays and exhibits across its 630 acres. Under the glow of 160,000 light bulbs or from the 250-foot height of the world’s first Ferris wheel, fairgoers indulged in sweet and salty treats — some novel and some classic.

But not all the deliciousness was meant to consume, at least not during the fair itself. Nations and states displayed their signature culinary achievements in eye-catching, jaw-dropping quantities: the Los Angeles chamber of commerce fashioned a 35-foot tower from 13,783 oranges, for instance.

Not to be outdone by their neighbors to the south, Canada’s Dominion Experimental Dairy Station, located in Perth, Ontario, got in on the numbers game with a 22,000-pound wheel of Cheddar cheese. The “Mammoth Cheese,” as it quickly came to be called, was made from the milk of 10,000 cows and was so massive that the floorboards beneath it collapsed during the display setup. No people were harmed, and the cheese was unscathed as well; in fact, the gigantic wheel of Cheddar survived the fair and afterwards was parted out to English chefs, except for one lone wedge, which is kept at the Perth Museum. (But don’t look for it — it’s not on display, apparently having had its share of the limelight in 1893.) A news article reported on its journey to the fair, the train carrying the Mammoth Cheese “stopped at every station to give the country people a chance to see this cheese. They flocked to the stations…by the thousands.” Several news outlets reported that the box which held it was autographed by 10,000 fans — and that was before the giant wheel of Cheddar even reached its destination.

Cheddar isn’t usually made at the scale of the “Mammoth Cheese” of 1893, but it has had an outsized influence on the cheese industry. The U.S. government even uses it as a category for dairy production stats (in January of this year, more than 353 million pounds were made). Cheddar variations — it can be creamy, soft and mild when young or sharp, crumbly, and tangy when aged — as well as its versatility, have helped it stand the test of time.