# Mozzarella Cheese question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2014, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826 "2014-06-02T11:32:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826/21 "2014-06-02T21:19:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Really odd views. Even most Polish and Russian vodkas aren’t made with potatoes. Grain is usual. Well, it’s not like I can go back to when I was eight and first learned that it was made from potatoes and UNlearn it. That was fifty years ago; my time machine only goes back to sixteen. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826/22 "2014-06-02T21:37:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s worth noting here that the American bison is not, properly speaking, a buffalo. Bison aren’t found in Europe, but they don’t need to be. While I don’t dispute this, for some reason it just pisses me off to no end. :mad: It’s like when a commonly, popularly, normally used word is declared to be “not a word” by purists. The 1970’s campaign against the word “ain’t” in the USA comes to mind. Yes, it’s true that taxonomists have declared the American Plains Bison to be _“Bison Bison Bison”_ but show a picture of one to almost anyone in the everlovin’ world and they will tell you it’s an everlovin’ “Buffalo”. So it’s a freakin’ buffalo if we all say it is. Not only that, but if you show them one of those next to a picture of each of the species of actual buffalo and as them to identify the buffalo, they’ll still point to the _bison bison bison,_ because it’s the most famous KIND of freakin’ buffalo. Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826/23 "2014-06-02T21:59:50Z")
[QUOTE=TruCelt;17427461{ Yes, it’s true that taxonomists have declared the American Plains Bison to be _“Bison Bison Bison”_ but show a picture of one to almost anyone in the everlovin’ world and they will tell you it’s an everlovin’ “Buffalo”. :[/QUOTE] I have no reason to believe that this is true. I encounter “bison” at least as often as “buffalo” and in my personal experience the preference for “bison” is Higher and has been on the rise throughout my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826/24 "2014-06-02T22:24:07Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Yes, it’s true that taxonomists have declared the American Plains Bison to be _“Bison Bison Bison”_ but show a picture of one to almost anyone in the everlovin’ world and they will tell you it’s an everlovin’ “Buffalo”. > > So it’s a freakin’ buffalo if we all say it is. > > Not only that, but if you show them one of those next to a picture of each of the species of actual buffalo and as them to identify the buffalo, they’ll still point to the _bison bison bison,_ because it’s the most famous KIND of freakin’ buffalo. > > Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. :rolleyes: Really? So in places that HAVE no bison but DO have buffalo, they’ll point to the bison when you ask which one’s the buffalo? In Vietnam? India? Italy? This is an incredibly Americocentric viewpoint. And I say that AS an American. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826/25 "2014-06-02T23:07:16Z")
From the useless trivia desk: Although Thailand imports most of its cheese, much mozzarella is produced locally. One entrepreneur has acquired some fame: her farm, halfway between Bangkok and Pattaya, seeks a better buffalo by cross-breeding Indian river buffalos with Thai swamp buffalos. Getting fertile offspring is non-trivial due to genome mismatch: the two species have 50 and 48 chromosomes respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826/26 "2014-06-02T23:10:56Z")
I assume that the only interest in mozzarella in Thailand is for pizza, correct? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826/27 "2014-06-02T23:48:43Z")
**TruCelt** , I understand what you’re saying… But it can lead to confusion when, for instance, one speaks of buffalo in Italy, and people think bison, and respond “Wait, there aren’t any of those there!” (except apparently there are; I stand corrected on that). Even if the bison is sometimes called buffalo, it’s not the only thing called that. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826/28 "2014-06-02T23:53:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **TruCelt** , I understand what you’re saying… But it can lead to confusion when, for instance, one speaks of buffalo in Italy, and people think bison, and respond “Wait, there aren’t any of those there!” (except apparently there are; I stand corrected on that). Even if the bison is sometimes called buffalo, it’s not the only thing called that. Well, they’re not in Italy, really. They’re more in Northeastern/Eastern Europe (Poland, etc.). /annoying pedant ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826/29 "2014-06-03T23:13:00Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > While I don’t dispute this, for some reason it just pisses me off to no end. :mad: It’s like when a commonly, popularly, normally used word is declared to be “not a word” by purists. The 1970’s campaign against the word “ain’t” in the USA comes to mind. > > Yes, it’s true that taxonomists have declared the American Plains Bison to be _“Bison Bison Bison”_ but show a picture of one to almost anyone in the everlovin’ world and they will tell you it’s an everlovin’ “Buffalo”. > > So it’s a freakin’ buffalo if we all say it is. > > Not only that, but if you show them one of those next to a picture of each of the species of actual buffalo and as them to identify the buffalo, they’ll still point to the _bison bison bison,_ because it’s the most famous KIND of freakin’ buffalo. > > Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. :rolleyes: I agree 100%. It’s so ridiculous that you expect next they’ll force that city in NY to rename itself to Bison. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826/30 "2014-06-03T23:21:33Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I assume that the only interest in mozzarella in Thailand is for pizza, correct? Dude, it’s Thailand, never assume… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mozzarella-cheese-question/689826.md?page=1)