Free Republic

Oct. 18 — Bacteria found in a 2,000-year-old piece of cheese could be the final evidence that this food was a continuous source of infectious disease in the ancient Roman world. According to a study published in a recent issue of the Journal of Infection, a tiny piece of cheese containing disease bacteria was carbonized in the volcanic eruption that one night in late August, 79 A.D. covered Pompeii and the nearby towns of Herculaneum and Stabiae with nine to 20 feet of hot ash and pumice. About 250 people fled to the beach, trying in vain to escape the...

Oct. 18 — Bacteria found in a 2,000-year-old piece of cheese could be the final evidence that this food was a continuous source of infectious disease in the ancient Roman world.

France’s cheese producers set up camp this week in a long marquee in the Tuileries Gardens, wafting pungent aromas to the Place de la Concorde and east to the lines of tourists waiting to enter the Louvre.About 20,000 people are expected to have visited the “France of 1,000 Cheeses” fair by the time it closes tomorrow.Yesterday, hundreds of people queued in blustery weather to pay the £1.25 entry fee, for which they received a plate of five cheeses from the region of their choice, bread, a glass of wine and the chance to see France’s myriad cheeses explained and presented...