Big Government Cheese

WKNO | By Savannah Smith

Published June 26, 2022 at 7:38 AM CDT

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There is an argument that our country has to be able to produce its own food because if our farmers go out of business and we become reliant on other countries for food, then that is a kind of national security risk.

In 1976, Jimmy Carter made a single campaign promise that snowballed into a longstanding cultural phenomenon– government cheese. It shows up in comedy sketches, songs, even a cooking show by Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg. So what is government cheese? And how did the U.S. government end up buying two pounds of cheese for every American?