Posted on 10/27/2022 6:33:35 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Lumpy. Slimy. Yogurt but worse. These were all words I used to describe cottage cheese at one point in my life. If you asked me how I felt about the ingredient, I would have delivered a scathing condemnation, a brutal takedown of a food I saw as a curse to all things creamy—that is, if I even thought of it at all. Until recently, I had nearly completely forgot cottage cheese even existed. It seemed like a food lost to the ‘90s, like SlimFast and Bagel Bites. But unlike all those packaged diet foods of the era, cottage cheese was not a highly packaged monstrosity packed full of fake sugar to make up for its obvious lack of fat. Rather, it’s real cheese, a curdled milk product, that provides a blank canvas for anything else you choose to eat with it. As a child, the nothingness of the flavor of cream cheese was made more offensive by the noticeable texture—the little cheese curds floating in the watery bath of their own creation felt like spoiled milk. But there were a lot of foods I was sensitive to as a kid. Olives, asparagus, beans of any variety: They became bearable, even enjoyable, as I grew older. Why did I leave cottage cheese behind?
For me, the hatred of cottage cheese stems from diet culture and my association with the ingredient as nothing more than a diet food. I remember the women in my life with their Weight Watchers cards during my childhood, carefully tallying their allotted calories for the day. Cottage cheese was a favorite due to its low calorie content. Though I never participated in these diets myself (I did not have an “almond mom,” thank god), I can imagine that after restricting yourself so much over the course of the day, being able to indulge in something, anything—even cottage cheese—must have been a relief. It was one of the few foods you could eat in bulk without worrying about the “consequences.” That being said, I don’t think I ever saw someone eat cottage cheese for the pleasure of the experience. In my mind, it was always framed as a food you should eat, not one that anyone should be excited about. It was meant to be tolerated, not savored. So, in my own rejection of diet culture, I saw no need to ever stock my fridge with the stuff.
I felt the same way about salads for a while, lamenting the undressed kale concoctions peddled by raw vegan YouTubers in the mid-2010s. But then I learned that salads, when prepared with care and consideration, can come in all forms, some cooked and crispy with plenty of fried components, others salty and umami and bursting with acidity. I stopped seeing salad as a sad albeit healthy choice. It ceased to be about health at all—salad returned to its neutral status, finally free to be itself without contending with the confines of diet culture.
But for many of us, cottage cheese has not yet recovered from its diet culture-induced reputation. About a year ago, I decided to try it again on a whim, turned off though I was by its lumpy texture as soon as I opened its plastic container. You can imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that cottage cheese actually isn’t bad. In fact, quite the opposite: I loved it. Combined with some chopped cucumber, fresh dill, olive oil and black pepper, it came together as a delightful breakfast salad. Upon more experimentation, I discovered that this neutral ingredient pairs well with a long list of other food items: smoked salmon, onions, canned fruit, fresh berries… the list is never-ending.
There’s nothing wrong with attempting to be healthier, to feed ourselves better food so we can feel our best. If that’s what you’re going for, cottage cheese, with its surprisingly high protein content, is undoubtedly a decent choice for many. But an obsession with thinness is not about health—it’s about maintaining a beauty standard that upholds racist and sexist ideologies, that functions to exert control over bodies that do not fit the prescribed mold. It’s no wonder that the low-fat fad foods of the ‘90s are so unappealing now: Some of them tasted bad, sure, but all of them were tinged with this toxic body hierarchy that very few of us have materially benefitted from. But hear me out: Cottage cheese is a victim of this mindset just as much as we were. It does not deserve to be relegated to the annals of culinary history, preserved in the Jell-O molds of our grandmothers’ heydays. It’s time for cottage cheese to come into the light and for us to accept it with open arms, embracing its weird lumps just as we try to embrace our own.
You could try making your own. It looks pretty simple. I have made Greek yogurt fron a gallon of milk and cottage cheese looks like fewer steps since it is not stiffened by thermophilic bacteria but by vinegar.
I haven’t tried it with tuna, but am trying to avoid mayo due to the soybean oil, so I’ll try it this way.
I realized just recently I can make egg salad with it and it’s barely noticeable since it’s mixed with the egg whites.
My favorite way to have it is with berries, nuts, pumpkin seeds, flax seed oil and Stevia. Plus or minus some protein powder.
Sam’s was OUT of cottage cheese last time I went; I hope that’s not the latest shortage.
chive cream cheese, yom
Funny. For years, I took a small container of cottage cheese and pineapple as part of my lunch. Really liked it that way.
Then at some point I began mixing fruit cocktail into it.
I have had it with salt and pepper too. It is an odd food. But I still kind of like it.
My mother used to eat cottage cheese with scrambled eggs (a German thing?). We were forbidden from touching it which made it even more appealing to us. Now I love it with rice, by itself, or with scrambled eggs. Thanks Mom.
Cottage cheese with mandarin oranges is a common snack for me.
I’ll try maple syrup soon.
Speaking of killer foods,
Breakfast is coffee (decaf in case anyone suspects otherwise) and chocolate, of the 100% variety.
Food of the gods! Is it off-topic to wonder if chocolate is the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? I mean maybe it’s not a joke, because who hasn’t heard of death by chocolate?
Things that make me go hmmm (or Mmmm, as it were):
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked...
That Godiva Lady goes way back. Adam had no excuse though. What was he thinking?
ot aint cottage cheese
it
I like the idea about adding smoked salmon and onions.
Hold the ketchup, please.
Cooked egg noodles, drain, put back in warm pot with some butter, add carmelized onions and cottage cheese added to pot and stirred in until warm, some ground pepper. So good
That's a combo I've liked for decades, with pepper and a little salt. Don't know about it being German.
My favorite cottage cheese based food is pancakes. A special occasion breakfast. The mix also includes sour cream, eggs, a little flour. Good stuff.
Make mine full-fat, large curd ...
Cottage Cheese has been used at times as a substitute for ricotta in lasagna. That is a crime.
Diet and fat free cottage cheese is repulsive.
True, real, creamy cottage cheese is great with just about anything but especially with Pears or Tony Cachere’s seasoning.
There are some brands just not worth buying. Borden’s is good stuff though.
Can’t see how anyone doesn’t like good and real cottage cheese.
The VFW has breakfast once a month. They put the over easy eggs on top of the hotcakes. I eat the eggs before I add syrup. Eggs with syrup is nasty.
Love cottage cheese… it’s good with Doritos, pineapple, peas, turkey, …..
It’s like grits, you can eat it with nearly anything.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.