Valentine's Day...Flowers, champagne, romantic dinners (remember to light the candles), chocolates and desserts of any type are awaiting for all these "romantic" consumers, who are going to contribute a little more money to our mass consumption society's "values" and modern "traditions" in order to show love and passion to their other half.

If you think that today's wacky fact is going to be about Valentine's Day though, then you're sadly mistaken!!! From the introduction, we are going to focus exclusively on the word desserts, specifically on one dessert you know as cheesecake and you probably falsely think as an American invention!

The Menu of the Day

When people think of cheesecake, they usually think of the vastly rich cuisine of New York. They definitely won't think of Ancient Greece and Olympic Games as they should, because as you probably understand by now...YES, The Greeks Invented Cheesecake Too!!! Graffiti as well, but oh well...that's totally irrelevant with today's wacky fact.

Truth be told, however, if you don't get a chance to eat a piece of strawberry cheesecake at Junior's Restaurant in Broadway, New York, then you will never know how GOOD cheesecake can be. It was by far the BEST dessert I had there!!!

Nonetheless, cheesecake not only is not from New York, but for that matter it is a few thousand years older than the city too.

The earliest form of cheesecake was first made by a Greek physician named Aegimus back in the 5th century BC. The man loved cheesecakes so much that he even wrote a book titled "Πλακουντοποιικόν Σύγγραμμα," which focused on the art of making cheesecakes.

Interestingly, cheesecakes became very popular with the Greek athletes, who consumed them massively during the Ancient Olympic Games in order to fuel their body with energy.

Furthermore, the delicious dessert became a popular wedding cake in Ancient Greece as well, where brides would bake and serve it to their new hubby's friends and family as a gesture of hospitality.

How Did It End Up Being a "Symbol" of New York's Cuisine?

Throughout the years, cheesecake changed many nationalities, shapes and forms, but it would become widely famous only after the development of modern commercial American cream cheese by William Lawrence in 1872.

In a desperate attempt to recreate the soft, French cheese Neufchâtel, the New Yorker cook produced fortuitously an "unripened cheese" that was heavier, tastier and creamier. Soon after that, he claimed that every cheesecake made before his creation was not an authentic cheesecake, simply because it wasn't made in New York.

The rest is part of Popular American Folklore...