There is always a whey

If you were here for the 1980s, you probably remember the term "government cheese." It was as if American Cheese and Velveeta dated and had a child that came in five-pound logs. It was salty, pale orange in color, but it fed a lot of people in need and provided income for farmers, a win/win if ever there was one.

Dairy farmers got a nice break in 1949 when Congress passed the Agricultural Act. This created the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) and authorized subsidies for dairy farmers. The government purchased their excess milk, which, as we said, helped the farmers and fed the needy.

 

In the 1970s there was a dairy shortage in America, often blamed on the changing nature of the farming industry. Many family farms were sold off for housing developments, and giant corporate farms took their place in the supply chain.  This shortage of dairy product came about as inflation raged on. The government stepped in (actually, "stepping in it" is to be avoided on dairy farms) and shelled out $2 billion in subsidies awarded to dairy farmers over four years.

And then, before anyone could say "Turn off the milking machines" the US government became the largest consumer of US dairy supplies. Here we were, the most powerful nation on Earth, and we were busy churning butter, making two kinds of Italian cheese (provolone, and amateur volone), and filling spray cans with whipped cream for pie topping.

The federal government had warehouses in 35 states, stockpiling 500 million pounds of dairy stuff. There was so much milk and butter and cheese that they almost had to start building igloos of cheese in which to store cheese. 

Then came the day when the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, John R. Block, showed up at the White House with a five-pound chunk of government cheese. He held it skyward and told the press, “We’ve got 60 million of these that the government owns. It’s moldy, deteriorating … we can’t find a market for it, we can’t sell it, and we’re looking to try to give some of it away.” 

And then, after everyone at the White House enjoyed grilled cheese sammies, someone had the idea to distribute millions of pounds of cheese to the elderly, low-income families, and organizations who served them.

As with anything, people had differing responses. Some appreciated the gift of cheese, and saw saw it as a sign of bad times, to be given free food.  And some people thought it was tasty and some did not. Everyone agreed that it was on the stanky side and had a strong flavor most often described as "cheesy." But everyone thought it was swell for grilled cheese sandwiches and mac and cheese.

By the 1990s, the economy righted itself, and the Feds were no longer the cheese whizzes. But I knew people who were daggone glad to have it, back in the day. 

It's not like they were handing out liverwurst or gummy worms or beets!