When: July 30
National Cheesecake Day on July 30th celebrates a dessert with one of the longest histories in baking. Ancient Greeks made cheese-based cakes, Romans spread the concept across Europe, and centuries of regional variation produced everything from New York's dense cream cheese version to Japan's impossibly light soufflé-style to Italy's ricotta-based torta. The diversity of cheesecake across cultures is remarkable.
Cheesecake has been made for over 4,000 years — ancient Greeks baked a version of it on the island of Samos as early as 776 BCE, serving it to Olympic athletes as an energy food.
In 1873 or 1874 — the exact year is disputed — a dairyman named William Lawrence in Chester, New York accidentally developed cream cheese while attempting to replicate Neufchâtel, a soft French cheese. His attempt produced something richer, denser, and more stable. He wasn't trying to invent a new ingredient. He was trying to copy an old one. The accidental product became Philadelphia Cream Cheese (named for marketing purposes, as Philadelphia was associated with high-quality dairy) and eventually the defining ingredient of American cheesecake. Before Lawrence's accident, cheesecake in America used the cheeses available to the communities making it — ricotta in Italian households, farmer's cheese or quark in Jewish and Eastern European households, cottage cheese in others. The first cheesecake in the historical record is Greek: recipes from around the 5th century BCE describe fresh cheese, wheat, and honey baked into a flat cake served to athletes before competition. Roman soldiers...