Cheesecake revision

Another huge long cheesecake post: (it's the last, I promise)

New York’s Cheesecake

            The New York style cheesecake is one of the most popular desserts in America and has a history stretching back to at least the fifth century B.C (CulinarySchools). It has gone from a dessert served to Olympians to an errand run by reality show contestants (Making the Band). It is the favored dessert of characters on shows ranging from Golden Girls to Friends (Season 7; Episode Recap; Golden Girls). In between being fetched by aspiring musicians on MTV’s Making the Band, the New York Style cheesecake has a long and rich history (Making the Band). To better understand how the New York style cheesecake came to be, it is best to examine the history of cheesecake in general, the unique ingredients, and the cultural phenomena associated with it.

            The history of the modern cheesecake is long, stretching back to the ancient Greeks and Romans (CulinarySchools; Crownover X). The first written recipe comes from Cato the Elder, a Roman emperor. He wrote books on a number of other culinary topics, but the first one of concern here is called placenta. His instructions involve creating a soft cheese, mixing it with honey, and cooking it inside a pastry crust (Nova Roma). It does not include the eggs that are used in a modern cheesecake, but is remarkably close. Cato also writes of another pastry in the same text (De Agricultura), the libum cake. To make it, mix a crushed, hard cheese with flour and an egg (Nova Roma). While neither of these dishes are quite the modern cheesecake, together they have all of the elements of a New York cheesecake. Cheesecake, along with many other trappings of civilization, was then introduced to the rest of the world with the conquering Roman armies (CulinarySchools). By 1872, every ingredient of a modern cheesecake was present except one: cream cheese.

            Before 1872, cheesecakes were primarily made with ricotta, cottage, or neufchâtel cheeses. A dairyman, William Lawrence, created the first cream cheese while attempting to replicate the French Neufchatel cheese (Philadelphia). His soft cheese was heavier and creamier than the cheeses being used for cheesecake at the time; this is because it contains more fat and water (Neufchatel; Cream cheese). This new cheese was sold under the trade name of Philadelphia, which has continued to this day. The use of cream cheese in cheesecake, however, didn’t occur until 1928. During that year, a chef named Arnold Rueben claimed to have sold the first New York style cheesecake using cream cheese instead of the usual cottage cheese (Practically Edible). Whether his claim is true or not, by 1930 the New York style cheesecake existed in its present form.

            Around the same time as the New York style cheesecake was created, the term cheesecake was entering the cultural lexicon as a slang term (Popik; Morris). “Cheesecake” was used then to refer to attractive women posed in risqué positions, generally nude or semi-nude. In essence, “cheesecake” was used as a synonym to “pinup” or “French postcard”(Sex-Lexis). The first anecdotal evidence of its use is in an exclamation of an editor for a New York newspaper. The Russian opera singer Elvira Amazar stared in one of those French postcard shots, when reviewing it, the editor was reported to have said, “Why, this is better than cheesecake!”(Popik). As is the case with language, the actual story of the origin of any slang term is never totally understood, so an alternate theory is in order. Evan Morris, a researcher on the topic of slang terminology, offers an idea which finds root in the times the term “cheesecake” became popular (Morris). He postulates that, because of the economic times, the Great Depression, cheesecake would be simply an unattainable goal. This idea of the unattainable goal dovetails nicely with the attractive women posing semi-nude for various publications; i.e., the men reading said magazines had the same chance of meeting the women as they did eating a cheesecake- none (Morris). While the slang term “cheesecake” may not be in current use in the same definition as the first use, it is still out there. The open site Urban Dictionary may not be reliable, but it is a remarkably accurate measure of what people think a term refers to. While many of the top rated definitions are the historic one, the later definitions are interesting as well. The definitions have retained the connection to sexuality and females, but have grown generally more explicit (Urban). This is extraordinarily interesting, as linguistic shifts have historically been difficult to measure, but can be seen in this case.

            The modern New York cheesecake is not only a study in antiquity with roots stretching back to Rome, but also has inspired a slang term. While cheesecakes had been made for centuries, when the cream cheese was added in 1928, a classic dessert, with a uniquely American twist, was created. Damon Runyon assured the New York cheesecake its place in history when wrote a New York deli called Lindy’s into two of his short stories as Mindy’s (eBooks). Later, those short stories were converted into a Broadway musical, Guys and Dolls, which pushed Lindy’s, and the New York style cheesecake, into the public mind. This 1955 musical was not by any means the last use of cheesecake, Friends, Golden Girls, and Making the Band are only some of the mentions of this confection in popular culture. Popular culture will also adopt concepts for its own use, as evidenced by the slang meaning of cheesecake. The evolution of this term is incredible, and shows the ever-changing nature of culture while reflecting the changes of the cheesecake: gradually growing from a comparatively tame pastry to a sinfully rich dessert.

I'm not posting the complete works cited because it's really long, and I have hyperlinks that'll take you to my sources. This is the print works cited:

Crownover, Mary. I Love Cheesecake. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Pub., 2005. Print.

Any comments would be very appreciated. Thanks!