'Feta' actually comes from an Italian word, and 23 other cheese name origins
Feta has been around in Greece since the eighth century B.C.E., but its name is actually borrowed from an Italian word that means "slice."
That's just one of the 24 facts about cheese name origins in this week's List Show video from our sister site, Mental Floss. Author John Green explains a number of strange cheese names in the video — for some reason, Green notes, "there's something about the name 'American cheese' that's just a little more appetizing" than calling it by its other names, "factory cheese" and "rat trap cheese."
To learn more about the origins of cheese names, check out the Mental Floss video below. —Meghan DeMaria
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
