(Photo: Taryn/CC BY-SA 2.0)

Maybe this is a dream you have. To be in a room with a mountain of cheese. Well, around 1.2 million pounds of it is stored at this very minute in industrial refrigerators across America–the most since 1984, according to Bloomberg–meaning your dream might be more possible than ever. 

The huge stockpiles are the result of cheap cheese from Europe flooding the market. The U.S. was the top importer for European cheese in January and February, which resulted in less demand for American-made cheese at home. 

Over half of the U.S. cheese in storage is literally that: American, the processed cheese. Two percent more is Swiss, while the rest is a variety of other cheeses, according to Bloomberg

Cheese is good, and you should be eating cheese, maybe even a mountain of cheese. Or becoming a Master Cheesemaker in Wisconsin

Gastro Obscura covers the world’s most wondrous food and drink.
Sign up for our regular newsletter.