Cheese cube.

The cheese cubes snack platter. A phenomenon that seems deeply rooted in our food culture, as if it has always been like this. But let's be honest: this is nothing more than a figment of our imagination. A fabrication that has been repeated so often that we have come to believe it en masse. Because if you think about it logically: why would we cut cheese into neat cubes and present it on a wooden board, only to pick it up again with a toothpick?

A Side Branch in Evolution

Humanity has explored numerous side paths in its evolutionary journey, some of which have proven useful (such as fire and tools) and others of which have served purely for entertainment and social cohesion. The cheese board undeniably belongs to the latter category.

Our early ancestors probably ate cheese simply with their hands, without giving it geometric shapes. But somewhere along the line, the need arose to not only consume food, but also to ‘curate’ it, to present it and elevate it to something greater than itself. This is how the ‘borrelplank’ came into being: a stage for snacks, a still life of culinary order.

And the cheese cubes? They’re just an over-organized form of food, a product of the human tendency to create patterns and symmetry where none is needed. A slightly wishful thinking that suggests that cheese tastes better when it’s in cubes than when it’s broken into random pieces.

A Collective Hallucination

The cheese platter and the cheese cubes are not laws of nature, but a collectively accepted illusion. We have convinced ourselves that this is the ultimate way to serve cheese. But imagine an alien civilization visiting our planet and seeing how we, with extreme precision, arrange cheese cubes and then pick them up again with a skewer. They would undoubtedly ask themselves: why?

The answer is simple: because we invented it and came to believe in it. Like we believe in traditions, etiquette, and table manners. Cheese cubes are not logical or necessary – they are an idea, a social construct that has spread through human civilization via drinks and parties.

Wishful Thinking in Optima Forma

But let's be honest: that doesn't make it any less fun. Side branches in evolution are not only essential, they are often the most enjoyable. Just as art, music and theatre are not evolutionary necessities, but they do make life more beautiful, the same goes for cheese cubes on a snack board.

So the next time you pick up a piece of cheese and pop it in your mouth, know this: you are participating in a charming little self-deception. A figment of humanity’s imagination, a wishful thinking so convincing that no one questions it. And perhaps that is the best part of it all.