Say Cheese

The latest book by Eastern Ontario author Ron W. Shaw takes him away from the early 19th century Perth settlers which were the subject of his most recent books.

I've not read Cheese Stakes, Lanark County's Mammoth Cheese and its Place in Cheesemaking History. The promo explains that it explores the nineteenth century story of the Lanark County Mammoth Cheese in the context of its place in a long tradition of oversized cheeses, and examines the remarkable, never to be repeated, achievement it represented in the annals of the cheesemakers' art. On April 25, 1893, the largest cheddar cheese ever manufactured anywhere in the world arrived on the grounds of the World's Columbian Exhibition at Jackson Park, Chicago, Illinois. Pressed seven months earlier in a Canadian Pacific Railway Company freight shed at Perth, Ontario, as it travelled to Chicago its massive 22,000 pounds weight snapped the railway car truss rods four times, its casing attracted a mass of graffiti and, as it was dragged into its exhibit space, the 'Canadian Mite' crashed through the floor of the Dairy Pavilion. Purchased by Britain's most prominent cheesemongers, it was transported to England and paraded through the streets of London, cut with a garden spade, and eaten by English consumers. Cheese Stakes is an essential read for those with an interest in the agricultural roots of Ontario; cheesemaking history, and in the individuals who were among the cast of characters who played a role in the great adventure of the Lanark County Mammoth Cheese.

Published by Global Heritage Press, the book may be ordered online at http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/canada/ontario/eastern-ontario/resources/101476.htm