Blue cheese and pale ale have been on the menu for longer than researchers thought

Scienceline

Today, many charcuterie boards, servings of buffalo chicken and cobb salads feature blue cheese and possibly even a glass of beer. New evidence shows that humans’ taste for a cheese flavored by fungi may have begun as early as 800 B.C. The Hallstatt salt mines in the Eastern Alps preserved excrement left behind by the workers who extracted salt from underground. Last year, researchers analyzed molecules on four samples of paleofeces, or very old human poop, and found evidence of blue cheese and pale ale consumption as early as the Iron Age nearly 3,000 years ago. Join Scienceline reporter Delaney Dryfoos on a foray to unearth the dietary habits of European salt miners from the Bronze Age to the Baroque era. You can also listen to this episode of the Scienceline podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Music: Krainer Waltz - Traditional Austrian and Slovenian Music by JuliusH | Pixabay License