The Meaning of Cheese

The end of one of those days usually means take-out or delivery at our house, but not tonight. Arriving late and feeling abused by the world in general and several colleagues in particular made me hungry for my pajamas and comfort food. Tonight's choice was grilled cheese, but not even that could be simple around here.

You see, none of us like our gooey melted goodness prepared the same way. My son, the purist, prefers cheddar (mild or sharp) oozing from two slices of well-browned and crusted potato bread. My husband, on the other hand, likes several kinds of cheese - usually cheddar, Swiss, and provolone - spilling from his (pumpernickel, marble, or Jewish) rye bread, which is sometimes hard to judge for doneness since the bread is darker to begin with. Meanwhile, I prefer more than just cheese - traditional toppings like lettuce, tomato, and mayo or something more interesting like sun-dried tomatoes, mushroom slices, and black olives - on my slices of 12-grain bread that are so crunchy they're like eating a handful of nuts and seeds.

I wonder what this says about each of us. Think back to those popular personality tests of high school and college - the ones that were supposed to give you insight into the type of person you are and what kind of work environment you might like. I'm thinking of the True Colors test that categorizes people based on color-coded questions. At the end, you are predominantly gold (the cold, super organized go-getter), green (the analytical science nerd), blue (the touchy-feely bleeding heart), orange (the next American Idol show off), or some combination thereof. Of course this is pretty superficial since people are different colors in different situations at different times, but given time to mull over the findings, a person might gain some insight, though I've never been surprised by my color assignations.

The first time I completed the questionnaire during an in-service about how to teach to different personality types, I came out strongly gold with only a little of each other color. This is no surprise since I was at work focused on learning and applying new ideas to my classroom. The second time through the questions, I was more relaxed because I'd already seen the presentation once before and my mind was wandering toward weekend plans of a family outing. Thus, my score was much higher in the blue range (aww...kitties, small children, picnics). The next time through I was at a different school trying to be sociable and entertaining, so I came up much more orange. Go figure.

So, as I think about these personality tests I wonder if someone should create one using food - a grilled cheese, for instance. What would the kind of bread, cheese, and toppings say about each of our personalities? Wouldn't it be much more fun to build a sandwich, jot down the toppings, and then eat it while discussing what it shows about how we learn, teach, and function? Let's see, my son would be measured as firmly traditional in his choices, functioning well in a highly-structured, predictable environment. My husband would be categorized as someone who likes variety, but doesn't stray too far from the path of his ancestors. Finally, I would be some wild bohemian who throws any kind of pagan ingredients on a safe sandwich base. The problem is these labels don't fit. My son is definitely not traditional, nor is he good with authority and structure. My husband is silly and unpredictable, to the contrary of his sandwich choice, and (while I have been accused of being a wild woman on occasion) I’m not generally a complete throw-caution-to-the-wind sort of person.

Oh well, it was a good idea that would have certainly livened up the next in-service meeting. On the other hand, perhaps it is just as valid as questions based on color. Hey, boss, want to have lunch?