245 Something Borrowed

Cheesy and Fondue talk about weddings and cheese. We learn about the new tradition of a cheese tower, cheese as a gift and some historical wedding cake traditions. And of course, we tell a very cheesy joke!

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Why is cheddar the most dangerous of all the cheeses? Because it is very sharp!

Show Notes

Cheese Wedding Cake Shop / The History and Evolution of Cheese Wedding Cakes

Cheese Wedding Cake Shop / Cheese Wedding Cakes: A Unique and Delicious Trend

Culture Cheese Magazine / Cheese Towers Are Taking Over

Bridebook / Wedding Cake Alternatives

Little Mouse Cheese / Why Wedding Cheese Towers Are the Ultimate Cake Alternative

Godminster / Cheese Wedding Cake

Easy Weddings UK / Wedding Cake Alternatives: Cheese Wheel Cakes

Food Republic / Wedding Cakes Have Unexpectedly Ancient Origins

Country House Weddings / The History of Wedding Cakes

Ange de Sucre / The History of Wedding Cakes From Ancient Rituals to Royal Icing

Gastronomica / Wedding Cake: A Slice of History

NewsBytesApp / Swiss Wedding Cheese Traditions

Budgeted Wedding / Swiss Wedding Traditions

Remitly / Wedding Traditions in Switzerland

About Switzerland / Fondue

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Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Just Cheesy, the podcastpresented by Just Cheesy Productions.
Hi there. I'm your host, Fondue.
I'm Cheesy.
In this week's episode, we'retalking all about weddings and cheese.
Ooh
We're gonna learn about a newtradition called a cheese tower.
We're gonna learn about cheeseas a wedding gift. And of course,

(00:24):
we're gonna tell our verycheesy joke.
Ha ha joke
Stay tuned for episodeSomething Borrowed on Just Cheesy
The Podcast.
The old wedding rhyme goessomething like this. Something old,
something new, somethingborrowed, something blue. Now, we
covered blue last week. Bluecheese, rort, gorgonzola, a shepherd

(00:46):
who left us lunch in a cavefor a girl. But today we're talking
about something borrowed. Thisnewfangled cheese tower is actually
celebrating over 150 years.Would you believe it goes back over
all the way to Victorian times?
It does.
The history of cheese as awedding gift goes all the way back
to Yorkshire and Lancashiretraditions. They gave cheese as a

(01:09):
gift to a couple to signifyprosperity in their new life together.
According to Culture CheeseMag, the display evolved from just
a simple round of cheese to atower that resembles a tiered wedding
cake. They say that the moderncheese tower wedding cake began in
the UK about 20 years ago.
It did.
According to bride book, thecheese tower is now one of the most

(01:31):
popular wedding cakealternatives in the uk.
It is.
The cheese wedding cake shopsays that nearly 70% of couples are
choosing them over otherdessert options.
They are.
They also say the trend isgrowing all over the world. You see
it in the us, Australia andacross Europe.
Of course you do.
Right? Of course you do. Duh.
Duh.
Now, Culture Cheese Mag saysthe structure of this tower follows

(01:53):
specific rules.
Okay.
The base has to be the largestand the hardest wheel.
That makes sense.
They say cheddar makes a greatbase because it's available in large
wheels and it's stable. And ofcourse, everybody loves cheddar.
Yeah, they do.
Then each layer above becomessmaller and softer. Cheeses like
blue cheese and brie oftenappear at the top.
Oh, yeah.
According to Little MouseCheese, the contrast of soft, creamy

(02:14):
cheeses and hard aged cheesesare both visually appealing and very
tasty for guests.
Yeah.
Culture Cheese Mag says thatdecorations typically include fresh
or dried fruit, edibleflowers, herbs, honeycomb and charcuterie
arranged around the base inbetween the layers.
Lovely.
They kind of look like sugarflowers to me. Like on a regular
wedding cake.
Yeah.
And what's super cool aboutthis, the cheese wedding cake shop

(02:37):
says that hard cheese wheelscan be personalized. With things
like names or wedding datescarved in. And, of course, the bride
and groom cut into the top ofa brie instead of the top of a cake.
Culture cheese mags. As acheesemonger named Craig from George
and Joseph in Leeds has beenorganizing Cheese Tower consultations
two or three times everysingle week. They have orders booked

(02:59):
out as far as two years.
Two years.
He recommends balancing thevariety and allowing for two to four
ounces of cheese per person.
That's it.
Depending on whether the toweris an accompaniment or a main event.
Okay.

(04:01):
George and Joseph and Leeds isnot a sponsor, but when they are,
their ad will go right here.Now, I was kind of interested to
find out why we even eat cakeat a wedding. I mean, besides the
fact that it's delicious.Yeah. And the origin story is a little
bit chaotic.
Chaotic.
According to Food Republic,the Ange de Sucre culinary history

(04:23):
site and multiple wedding cakehistorians, this tradition apparently
begins in ancient Rome. AtRoman weddings, a wheat or barley
cake named. Oh, my gosh. Amustachium was broken over a bride's
head as a symbol of fertilityand good fortune. Maybe not such
good fortune if they'rebreaking the cake over your head.
Right.
And then the guests scrambledto collect the crumbs. For their

(04:46):
own luck, the couple ate whatwas left.
Sure.
According to the country houseweddings history of wedding cakes,
when the Romans conqueredBritain in 43 AD, the tradition evolved.
Okay.
Instead of breaking the cakeover a bride's head, the British
threw it at her.
Threw it.
Yeah, that's right. They threwit at her.
Chaotic.
That sounds like a really funtradition for the bride. According

(05:07):
to Food Republic, small cakesand buns were eventually stacked
into towers.
Oh.
And then the goal for thebride and groom was to attempt to
kiss over the top of the stackwithout knocking it over. If they
succeeded, it meant prosperouslife together. According to gastronomica.org
17th century wedding cakeswere made in pairs. They were, they
say, one for the bride,another for the groom.

(05:29):
Ooh.
The groom's cake was a dark,heavy fruit cake.
Okay.
Apparently, the bride's cakewas smaller and generally not icy.
The groom's cake was actuallycut up into little squares. It was
placed into boxes for theguests to take home as a wedding
memento. They say, to ensuregood luck.
Okay.
They say at bedtime, therecipient of the groom's cake would
place the square underneathhis or her pillow.

(05:50):
What?
I. I feel like instead of goodluck, you're just going to attract
bugs.
Yeah.
They say the traditioneventually died out.
Sure.
But it's being revived now.Where groom's cakes are often shaped
and decorated to depict thegroom's favorite hobby, like a golf
bag, a camera, or a chessboard.
Nice.
Apparently, it took a littlebit of time for a white cake to come
into favor. White icing wasgenerally a status symbol rather

(06:13):
than a symbol of purity. Sugarwas difficult and expensive to refine.
Okay.
So a big white cake signaledthat the family could afford the
finest ingredients. Whiteicing icing didn't actually appear
until the 17th century.
Really?
It was made from egg white andsugar. And the icing was called Bliss.
The icing we know as royalicing actually came from Queen Victoria's

(06:35):
1840 wedding cake.
It did.
This cake was big.
It was.
According to the London Times,it was more than 9ft in circumference.
What?
It had sculpted figures,including Britannia, a faithful dog,
two turtle doves, severalcupids, and one was happily writing
the wedding date on a tablet.Lots wedding cakes at the time were

(06:57):
actually only wedding cake onthe bottom and decorative icing on
the top. Root handlesdisguised as decorative columns appeared
in the late 1800s, and itwasn't until the 20th century where
proper hardened icing columnscould be used to hold up a cake.
Wow.
The tiered pillar cake was astatus symbol because most people

(07:17):
could not afford one. Let'ssay you don't want a fancy, schmancy
wedding cake, Right. How aboutsome Swiss wedding cheese?
Oh, yeah.
According to the news bites,apparently, and the budget Wedding
Guide to Swiss weddingTraditions, some couples actually
serve fondue at theirweddings. Fondue at a Swiss wedding
may symbolize unity andtogetherness. A guest would share

(07:37):
a communal pot. Everybodyfollows the same rules. One of them
is, if you lose your bread inthe fondue pot, it carries a penalty.
A penalty? Like buying thenext round, singing a song, or if
two people lose their bread atthe same time, you have to kiss.
Of course, not all Swiss havefondue at their weddings. According

(07:58):
to Remitley's Guide to ActualSwiss Wedding Customs, some regions
actually perform a cheeseblessing during their wedding ceremony
or reception, where they givethanks for the local dairy heritage
and the prosperity it represents.
I'm ready for a joke fondue.
Okay, these are. These aredefinitely going downhill.
Yeah, they are.
Why was the cheese towerjealous of the wedding cake?

(08:20):
Who knows?
Because people said thewedding cake was sweeter.
That was too literal.
Yeah, I know, I know. It'svery literal because the wedding
cake really is sweeter.
It was more bad than funny.
Of course it was bad. And alittle bit cheesy. Thanks for listening
to Just Cheesy, the podcastepisode Something Borrowed.

(08:40):
Thank you.
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And stay cheesy everybody.