Tag: #cheese

Who Moved My Cheese

About  Book

Author :  spencer Johnson

Published on :  8 September 1998

Publisher :  G. P. Putnam’s sons

Genres : Fiction and self-help book

My rating : 4.3/5

PLOT

The author has illustrated the change via short story of two mice and two humans. Who moved my cheese has four characters, two mice are sniff and scurry and two humans are hem and haw. They live in a maze and find cheese frequently to survive, but their ways of searching and perception about finding cheese were different. The mice follow simple strategy. They test each path to find cheese, but humans don’t follow the same strategy.

One day they all find a ton of cheese in one place that looks like it’s enough to last them a lifetime. After this their life become more convenient because they don’t have to struggle to find cheese. Inspite of getting cheese in bulk, mice are always vigilant . They always ready to dispatch if cheese disappears. Human usually don’t want to step out of their comfort zone.

One day, cheese gets over. And their response of accepting  the reality varies . Mice quickly move on accepting the fact , but humans are not ready to move on. They believe that they were entitled to the cheese. They decide to stay in hope that cheese will appear again. But nothing happens as they expected.  Haw decides to explore the maze for more cheese and also convince hem. But he refuses to go with him. Eventually ,he meets with a tons of cheese and also with sniff and scurry.

REVIEW :

This book has emphasised on change which  is universal truth of life. Cheese is a metaphor that everyone wants in their life. It could be money, fame, reputation, happiness, success, achievements, or anything else.we can link cheese with our passion , goal , dream. Author has given deeply broad massage with this simple story. Human beings perspective towards any problems or changes differs from each other. Stories four characters react and act as per of their individual sense. We can learn from each character’s attitude and action towards changes.The sooner you accept change and move on, the sooner you will get your cheese (goal).

This book will really help you to move ahead in life if you are stuck anywhere. You can foresaw yourself if you follow the path one of those characters . In case of hem he gets used to of comfort life and easiness. He was not accepting  the change and move ahead. So at the end he did not get the cheese. There is a lot to learn from each characters . Always stay vigilant like sniff and scurry. Make yourself ready for changes that we have to encounter in life. Initially haw deny to admit the fact, but after not changing the situation for long. He decides to move on. It taught us even if we are late but decide to stand , eventually we will get success and will be proud of our decision later.

Put yourself in a different circumstances, make you strong to overcome difficulties and come out as an outstanding personality. Its human tendency he gets used to of old habits and expect different results with doing the same thing. Today each one struggle for getting  easy and convenient life.

About Author  :   Dr. Spencer Johnson is one of the most spectacular thinker and beloved author. His international bestseller books include three books: Who Moved My Cheese?, sold 25 million copies. The One Minute Manager, the most popular management method for over two decades, An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change, the mostly read  book on change,  and his newest, The Present. Over 40 million copies of Dr. Johnson’s books are printed in 42 language.

CHEESE- introduction and production

Cheese is a most commonly used dairy product which is a product derived from milk. Cheese is available in the market in various textures, forms and flavors. It is basically the product of coagulation of milk protein, casein. Cheese is said to be a concentrated form of two major products i.e. Milk protein (casein) and Milk fat. Combination of these two results in the production of cheese which is very much liked by everyone nowadays.
The other ingredients of cheese besides milk are a particular, selective strain of a bacterium, a milk clotting agent and some amount of sodium chloride (to give a salty flavor).
Various types of cheese are present in the market which is basically due to the variation in its basic constituents. No new ingredient is actually added in forming the new type of cheese. Just a basic variation in the already present ingredients can help. Sometimes there is a need to add new additional ingredients which give rise to completely different variety of cheese. It has also been observed and noted that the change in any environmental conditions surrounding the manufacture and subsequent ripening of cheese also affects its manufacturing and thus type.
BASIC CHEESE MANUFACTURING PROCESS –
The basic cheese manufacturing process consists of 3 main stages – Curdling, Curd processing and ripening. All different varieties of cheese can be manufactured at different levels of manufacturing means some cheese can be made in the first step while some needs all the 3 steps to completely occur.

  1. CURDLING –
    It is the first and the most important step in the production of cheese. In this step, there is a separation of milk into solid curds and liquid whey. Usually, this step is achieved by the addition of acidifying (souring) agent in milk and adding the enzyme RENNET. The acidification can also be achieved by directly adding some acidic agent such as vinegar. But most commonly for this acidification purpose, a starter bacteria is used which converts milk sugars into lactic acid and without even the addition of any acidic substance, the acidification is achieved. The common starter bacteria which are used are from Lactococcus, Lactobacillus, or Streptococcus families. Swiss cheese requires the addition of Propionibacter Sherman, which is used to produce Carbon dioxide bubbles during ageing resulting in the hole like structure of Swiss cheese.
    Some fresh cheeses are curdled only the acidification process, but most cheeses require the addition of enzyme, rennet which sets the cheese as strong and rubbery. It also allows the curdling step at low acidity.
  2. CURD PROCESSING
    Till this step, the cheese has now set into a very moist gel. Some soft types of cheeses are essentially complete in the first step. They are just drained, salted and packaged. But from other cheeses, which are not been prepared in the single step, the curd is cut into small cubes which allows the remaining water to drain off from the individual pieces of curd itself.
    Some harder cheeses are then heated at a normal temperature which deliberately forces out the whey from the cut curds. This step changes the taste and flavor of the cheese. Apart from providing a salty flavor to cheese, salting has some other benefits also like it prevents cheese from spoiling, it drains out moisture and also it is used in firming he cheese’s texture in an interaction with its proteins. Different cheeses have different processes of getting texture.
  3. RIPENING
    Most of the cheeses are already prepared in the last step, some of which are not prepared yet are of harder varieties and more rubbery in texture which is completely attained in this step. In this step, the cheeses are left to rest under controlled conditions. This step is also known as AGING. This step may take several years to complete. As a cheese ages, the microbes and the enzymes secreted by them transform its texture and also intensify the flavor. This transformation is more of a result of the breakdown of casein proteins and milk fat into a complex mixture of amino acids, amines and fatty acids.