# Cheese Chills
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 5, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609 "2006-05-05T22:50:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/1 "2006-05-05T22:50:47Z")
This is something I’ve wondered about for a long, long time, but nobody ever seems to get what I’m talking about when I bring it up. I think the problem is that I’ve never asked the Dopers. 😉
I have always _loved_ cheese, ever since I was a wee stump. However, I notice that when I eat a certain amount of cheese, something happens. I don’t have to eat a lot of it for this to happen, but it has to be more than a couple thin slices; also, it has to be _cheese_, not “processed cheese food”. So, if I’m happily cutting little chunks of cheese off of a block, this always, always happens.
I call it the “cheese chill”. It doesn’t effect any other part of my body except my head. I get a weird feeling of cold clamminess that kind of washes over my entire face, forehead, and behind my ears. It’s subtle, but noticeable. It’s not uncomfortable, just weird. It doesn’t stop me from eating more cheese, either.
This doesn’t happen with any other dairy product, only cheese. I know for sure it happens with cheddar, mozzarella, gouda, havarti, fontina, swiss, and provolone. I do not know for sure if it would happen with things such as feta, parmesan, or cream cheese, since I eat those in very small amounts. I also loathe cottage cheese, so again, not sure if it would happen with that. It seems to happen whenever I eat any cheese that comes in blocks, but that might be just because I eat more of it in that form. It usually happens when I’ve consumed approximately 2 ounces of it - probably shortly before that.
Now, is there anyone out there who knows what the hell I’m talking about? And what the hell is it? This has always, always happened to me, ever since I was small. Am I poisoning myself slowly with cheese? (Ah, but what a way to go!) 😃
---
### Author:  [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/2 "2006-05-05T22:59:06Z")
You need to immediately move to Wisconsin, you are a natural cheesehead! 😉
---
### Author:  [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/3 "2006-05-05T23:04:52Z")
> [@A.R. Cane](#):
>
> You need to immediately move to Wisconsin, you are a natural cheesehead! 😉
I should have seen that coming. :smack: 😛
---
### Author:  [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/4 "2006-05-05T23:13:36Z")
Wow. My 8-year-old has mentioned something similar before and I thought he was nuts. He calls it a “cheese freeze”. It doesn’t stop him from eating cheese though.
---
### Author:  [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/5 "2006-05-05T23:17:50Z")
Swiss cheese specifically gives me a headache if I eat even a little bit.
Oh dear! Somebody call in the medical professionals…
---
### Author:  [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2006, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/6 "2006-05-07T06:25:17Z")
Oooh, I just got it now, very mildly, after eating a couple of those Vache Qui Rire swiss cheese wedges. So I’m going to have to assume there’s some real cheese in there. 😉
It must happen to other people, too? I don’t get a headache (sorry to hear about that, though **Sattua** , ugh - _horrors_ to me if I had to stop eating cheese in the middle of a good Swiss!) I just get a weird clammy feeling. It actually feels kind of _good_, in a very weird way. A “high”, perhaps? (I don’t know, was never into drugs enough to know just what a “high” is!) It certainly doesn’t make me want to stop. The more I eat, the more I feel it. It will come in waves. _Surely_, someone, somewhere, besides me and **Homebrew** ’s eight year old experience this? 😕
---
### Author:  [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2006, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/7 "2006-05-07T06:27:35Z")
> [@me](#):
>
> after eating a couple of those \*\*Vache Qui Rire \*\* swiss cheese wedges
Oops. Upon checking the box, here in the US, the brand is called “The Laughing Cow”. But of course. :smack:
I don’t even put them on anything. I just open them and eat them, whole. I loves me some cheese.
---
### Author:  [@miss.A.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss.A.D)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2014, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/8 "2014-10-02T06:04:28Z")
Jeez. Ive always wondered if this happens to anyone else out there in the world. Because every time i tell someone about it. Or even try to explain it, they give me the weirdest look and have no clue as to what is going on. Its good to know im not the only one! 🙂 lol. I read somewhere that it may be a very mild case of a sensitivity to certain foods such as cheese with a certain chemical in it(forgot what its called) anyways…if so. Im totes ok with that 😛
---
### Author:  [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/9 "2014-10-02T11:48:29Z")
Sounds like what happens to me if I eat certain fruit, but I want to say it’s happened with cheese, too. I think it’s your saliva glands going overboard from stimulation.
(I tried looking this up just now and got scary stuff about tumors and epilepsy. :eek: I don’t think this applies!)
---
### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/10 "2014-10-02T15:35:46Z")
FYI everybody: this thread is 8 years old.
---
### Author:  [@SlickDG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickDG)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2020, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/11 "2020-04-18T02:33:31Z")
Just had to reference a 14 year old post about something my GF was saying sounded crazy. Glad there are other weirdos out there…TY internet.
---
### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2020, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/12 "2020-04-18T02:58:11Z")
Wonder if this would be a natural remedy for the meat sweats.
---
### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/13 "2020-04-18T03:19:38Z")
Since we’re in IMHO, the first thing I thought about was that it might be a reaction to an ingredient in a lot of cheese, like rennet. Cheese is almost the only place you’ll find rennet, isn’t it?
---
### Author:  [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/14 "2020-04-18T03:55:32Z")
I have a friend with a similar problem, he said he had a mild specific allergy to cheese, not lactose intolerance.
According to the (questionable?) source. It’s different than lactose intolerance in that the allergy is due to proteins in cheese.
> **[What are the symptoms of a cheese allergy and how do you know if you are...](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7302609/symptoms-cheese-allergy-lactose-intolerance-allergic/)**
>
> FOOD intolerances and allergies occur when your body is sensitive to certain types of food such as wheat or dairy. Whether it’s a little bit of brie or a chunk of cheddar, cheese can be a com…
---
### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2020, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/15 "2020-04-18T06:55:46Z")
The OP hasn’t posted since 2008, so maybe he OD’d on cheese and his head exploded.
---
### Author:  [@loro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loro)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2021, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheese-chills/355609/16 "2021-10-22T14:20:41Z")
I get the exact same thing… like a hot/cold clamminess around my eyes and forehead when I eat cheese. Kind of like the cheese sweats, minus the sweat. I thought I was the only one who felt this!
Get ready for the plot twist… I’m vegan, so the cheese I eat is 100% plant-based.
Still no definitive answer on the internet as to what exactly causes this, as far as I can tell.