| Cheesecake in its present form is a relatively "young" | | | | cook can execute it with a fairly high chance of |
| culinary invention, but cheesecake itself goes back | | | | success. Another benefit to its simplicity is that it's |
| for centuries. With the natural sweetness of young | | | | open to interpretation, and one look at the vast |
| cheese, it was natural that it wouldn't take long | | | | array of modern cheesecake varieties will tell you |
| before some smart cookie started playing around | | | | that has happened in a big way. |
| with it in desserts. | | | | Numerous people and restaurants, as with any food |
| All the way back in Roman times, in the first century | | | | discovery traced back to the early 20th Century, |
| A.D., there was a sweet cake often used as a | | | | claim cheesecake in New York. The most popular |
| temple offering called libum. See if the ingredients | | | | candidate, however, is Arnold Reuben, who owned |
| sound a little familiar: cheese, flour, eggs and | | | | the now-legendary Turf Restaurant in New York City. |
| occasionally honey. Culinarily, that's not all that terribly | | | | He claimed the New York cheesecake was a family |
| far from what we know today, although the libum | | | | recipe, and his claim deserves legitimacy if only for |
| was designed to be cooked and wrapped in leaves in | | | | the number of people who were introduced to the |
| a fire. These are a few steps removed from a Viking | | | | wonders of its simple flavors at the restaurant. |
| oven with electronic temperature control. | | | | Wherever the New York cheesecake recipe came |
| When the Romans invaded most of Europe and part | | | | from, and whatever person or family we have to |
| of Asia, they brought their foods with them, including | | | | thank for it, it has become a landmark on our culinary |
| libum. The genius of the libum recipe is that it's made | | | | landscape and one of the cornerstones of what we |
| of ingredients that are available in almost every | | | | now call American cuisine. |
| culture. It's also very simple, so even the most | | | | * Libum was a sacrificial cake sometimes offered to |
| inexperienced or illiterate (as most were back then) | | | | household spirits during Rome's early history. |