Orange, edible and in a block: a short history of US ‘guv’ment’ cheese

An extract from Andrea Freeman's Ruin Their Crops on the Ground unpacks government cheese - from Steve Harvey jokes to Jay-Z lyrics and Wahlburgers

During the Depression, when milk supply exceeded demand, the US government bought milk to keep its price stable and support dairy farmers. Then, trying to find a way to store or get rid of the surplus, it started stockpiling cheese, which lasts longer than milk.

The government bought so much cheese that it eventually filled every cold storage in the country. But there was still more excess milk. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) rented half an acre in a Kansas cave and filled it floor to ceiling with blocks of cheese. At its height, the US had 2lbs of stored cheese for every resident.