Cheesecake is a great dessert for many occasions and events. It has many good aspects.
There are many cheesecakes to choose from today. It ranges from very simple to very complicated cheesecakes. This list includes the new york cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, fruit cheesecake, and so on.
There are also more creative, exciting cheesecakes like the tiramisu cheesecake, cinnamon swirl, turtle, and one of my favorites, white chocolate mocha cheesecakes.
What many people don't know is that this dessert was just as popular at the time it was originally created, even been offered to appease the gods.
The history of the cheesecake can be traced back 2000 years. Originally the cheesecake was made by the ancient Greeks.
This unnamed dessert was originally served to Olympians in the original Olympic games. This was in 776BC on the Isle of Delos.
They were served in smaller sizes to the cheesecakes of today, and were seen as a good source of energy for athletes who needed to be replenished.
The Romans eventually did conquer the Greeks, and with the conquest, they adopted much of their culture. They began to implement this dessert in their own diet, calling it placenta (also called Libum).
The earliest "recipe" we have of the placenta was written by Marcus Porcius Cato, the Roman politician.
The simple recipe was:
Crush 2 pounds of cheese in a mortar. Then mix with 1 pound of bread wheat flour.
After adding one egg, the final step is to cook in a hot fire.
Romans often offered food to household and temple gods.
Roman temple gods were often gods like Jupiter, the ruler of the gods, who had their own temples where sacrifices were made. Household gods included on the likes of Janus and Vesta, who guarded the door and hearth, the Lares, who protected the field and house, Pales, who watched over the the pasture, Saturn, controlled the sowing, Ceres, the watcher of the growth of the grain, Pomona, who dealt with fruit, and Consus and Ops, the overseers of the harvest.
The Romans, who believe their gods brought them success or failure, brought many sacrifices.
The Romans used our modern day cheesecake to sacrifice and appease their gods. This was a very important dessert for them.
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