When I think “cottage cheese” I think of my grandmother who would greet me, growing up, with an offer of diet chocolate soda (she stocked that stuff like it came from the fountain of youth) and cottage cheese with sugar and cinnamon. The texture of cottage cheese was so foul to me that when choosing a picture for the top of this post, I couldn’t even stomach what came up on Google Images. Somehow, though, I’ve been thinking about cottage cheese lately. Is that just a grandma thing? Has yogurt displaced it? Are there any young people who eat cottage cheese? If so, are you one of them? Please tell me more in the comments.
I like it and always have. I eat it with applesauce.
I add it to smoothies/shakes. But I can’t see myself ever eating it on its own.
Is it really cheese?
Yes. It’s cheese curds and milk or cream.
I’m 26, and I can only handle it when blended into smoothies. The texture is just too gross, and I usually don’t have an issue with textures.
I think something changes in people as they get into 30s. I thought it looked nasty in my 20s. never went near it in my 20s. I eat it with peaches, pears, pineapple – you name it. But I’m not in my 20s anymore. I’ve been told a person’s taste buds change – every 7 years. So may be in 7 years – you will grow to like the taste? not sure about texture tho. I don’t know how to make cheese crunchy.
My mother mixed it with Miracle Whip and chopped red onions, then served it on sliced tomatoes. I don’t think I’ve ever used Miracle Whip except for this, but I like this a lot!
i love it! i actually just had some as a mid morning snack. i eat it plain but my favorite is with perfectly ripe red grapes.
I LOVE cottage cheese. Grew up on it. We ate it with beets. Then I had some friends from the west coast advise me to eat it with salsa. Delicious. (Am I alone? I suddenly feel very alone in this…)
Kelly I love it with salsa too! (Just had it for lunch today, in fact!)
I just had some with beets! Cottage cheese friends!
humm. . .salsa. . I’d have to ask someone to make this since i never purchase salsa. never.
Beets taste like dirt (to me). Glad you love it, but I just can’t imagine them individually, much less paired! : )
Haha I am with you Jan!
try pickled beets. if you like pickles, you may enjoy pickled beets. i wonder if you had your beets fresh or canned. you can get canned beets – they both come in pickled or non pickled form in can. I never tried fresh beets before. oh i lied. when I had a juicer i used to buy them fresh.
With salsa – never heard of that – but will try soon .
I love it with Salsa! Another way I like it is with Jello and fruit. I mix one package of dry jello, say orange, with cottage cheese and then put a can of mandarin oranges in. I use it as a weight watchers dessert – only 3 points per 1/2 cup.
No you are not alone. I love beets – had them as a child all the time. I often wondered (since I love cottage cheese and often eat 1/2 cup daily with pears, peaches or whatever fruit) if it would pair well with beets. If you say it goes good with beets, I’m going to try that. Sounds like a sweet treat to me.
I didn’t know cottage cheese was so controversial. I’ve been eating it since elementary school – it’s so delicious, especially on toast with lots of black pepper.
I eat it with black pepper all the time, I never tried it on toast.
When you mean “young,” how young are you thinking? I’m 36 and love the stuff – been eating it all my life. My favorite way to have it is with halved grape tomatoes, chopped green onion, salt, and pepper.
I was wondering ‘how young is young’ too. I’m 39 and I think of myself as a young person – I’m not a 90 year old person. At least not yet.
I haven eaten cottage cheese recently, but I enjoy it on occasion. I like it with a sprinkling of Lawry’s seasoned salt and maybe some slices of apple. I like Knudsen’s texture best. Some kinds are weirdly dry or pellet-like. I’ve always thought pineapple was a weird mix-in.
I’m with you – I can’t eat cottage cheese on its own, however … I make a guacamole with the stuff that’s fabulous (and lower fat, or at least I like to think so). I’ve also made a spinach and walnut pesto type sauce with it. That said, I’ve only seen my mother eat it plain, and she’s a grandma.
I’m 22, I love cottage cheese. Awesome with melons (and a lot of other fruit)
Coincidentally, I’m 22, have never tried cottage cheese and never plan on it. I’m usually pretty open to foods, but I can’t stand to even look at it. I have no idea what it tastes like at all.
There are two kinds of people on this planet…
I’m 28 and love cottage cheese. I despise yogurt and would pick cottage cheese over it any day. I only eat it plain though, and any mixing of it with fruit makes me want to curl up and die.
My 3 year old daughter will do anything for cottage cheese!! Her and her Dad will sit at the kitchen island and eat a whole container.
I’m 32 and I’ve been eating cottage cheese all my life. My dad would serve it sometimes as a quick dinner with canned fruit salad and toast, I still enjoy it to this day, but not really as a savory thing (my old roommate used to eat it with salsa and I always thought that was pretty gross) For you cottage cheese skeptics – I would say try the kind that’s labeled SMALL curds (as pictured above, I’ve only seen Knudsen sell this kind actually) and also drain any of the liquid off before serving.
I love cottage cheese! I didn’t even know it was an old people thing. Cottage cheese with pickles. Yum
That’s my favorit way to have it too (and I am 35) but my husband thinks I am crazy. He will eat cottage cheese with anything sweet but not savory. Our 6 year old loves it too, especially on top on Eggo waffles with some apricot jam on top.
I love it and I feed my it to my 15-month old all of the time.
I eat it for protein all the time, and like a lot of the other commenters I prefer it savory. I think 2% and nofat CC is disgusting, which may be what a lot of people encounter and hate. 4% small curd is the way to go.I love it on the side of quiche or scrambled eggs, or really good summer tomatoes. Trader Joe’s roasted gorgonzola crackers offset it nicely as well. I guess I’m not “young” anymore, I’m 41, but I’ve been eating it all my life.
I’m 33, and I love cottage cheese. I like it with savory things (ie, not canned fruit) – it’s great as a salad mixed with chopped tomatoes, cucumber, olives, and Greek or Middle Eastern spices.
I used to eat cottage cheese when I was younger, visiting my aunt and uncle in Michigan. I rarely eat it now but I actually really like it. I grew up eating it with salt and pepper though. It’s a savory side for me. I got confused when I started seeing it paired with jam or fresh fruit.
I like to dip tortilla chips in cottage cheese, although it defeats the health purpose considereably.
Same! I love it with Fritos. Or just salt and pepper it and scoop with celery.
Cottage cheese totally skeeves me out. So does mayonnaise, BTW.
I’m 28. So do I fall into the young demographic? 🙂
My mom used to give us cottage cheese plain as a snack, which I always enjoyed. It’s now a food that I can only have every few years but when I do have it I love it. It’s really good as a side to fresh vegetables as a snack, like tomatoes and cucumbers. I really like having something crunchy alongside it because of its texture.
I almost always have a container of it in my fridge! I’ll eat it pretty much any which way… with fruit, with salt and pepper, mixed with tuna and eaten with toast or crackers, in baked pasta like lasagna or stuffed shells… yum. For the record, I’m 26.
Yes, yes, yes. Not all of the time of course. The Amana colonies in Iowa make homemade cottage cheese and serve it with fried chicken. I also put it in smoothies for extra protein. It is also a good substitute for ricotta. I am below 30 🙂
I love the stuff, have ever since I discovered it in college. I’ve put it in bruschetta, lasagne, it goes really well with tomatoes and olive oil.
I’m 20 and had never had cottage cheese until about 4 months ago, I now have it a few times a month as it’s cheap, very high in protein and low in fat. I tend to have it as a breakfast, with crushed summer berries and some sugar or honey on top. The texture is still a bit strange, however.
YES! I’m 28, and I have mad love for cottage cheese- I’m particularly fond of the TJ’s 4% fatty kind. I love it on Melba toast (do any young people eat Melba toast?) My favorite comfort food is onions sauteed in an obscene amount of butter mixed with egg noodles and cottage cheese. It’s magical.Of course, at heart, I’m a Jewish grandmother, so there’s that…
I love how you said, “I have a mad love for cottage cheese.”
My mom would top pineapple rings with a scoop of it, or would just give it to us sprinkled with dill, which I love to this day.
I’m 30 and I love it! I eat it as a side plain with lunch, with tomato, with a fruit plate, or with salt and pepper…pretty much any way I can get it! A go-to is cottage cheese and applesauce…yum.
I LOVE cottage cheese. Is 30 young enough for your Young Readership?
I’m 31 and Dutch. Here it’s called ‘kwark’ which, admittedly, sounds pretty revolting. I’m also not sure if Dutch kwark actually tastes the same as cottage cheese as I’ve never had cottage cheese from the US. But there you go. I do like it. Plain, with bananas or other fruits, honey, granola or all of the above 🙂 Or, my favorite, mixed with raspberries and whipped cream in a no-bake cheese cake!
Kwark and cottage cheese are not the same thing: what we call Hüttenkäse is cottage cheese, so with far bigger curds. Great idea to use kwark in a cheesecake though, will try soon!
I grew up eating it with just pepper and often fresh, sliced tomatoes from the garden. At friends’ homes, I learned to love it with canned peaches or pineapple. It is still a summer menu staple for me with either fruit or vegetables for breakfast or lunch. One way that I absolutely can’t eat it is with maple syrup. A childhood babysitter tried to convince me this was delicious, but I just can’t.
I love cottage cheese and I always have. In my childhood, it was a part of a weekly dinner side “salad” composed of a leaf of iceburg, a generous scoop of cottage cheese and a few canned peaches or pineapple slices. Here in the midwest, the kitchy ’50s and ’60s Betty Crocker/Good housekeeping approach to food presentation has remained strong for the last 30 years and isn’t even meant to be ironic. As a teen, I preferred cottage cheese topped with Cheese Its. Now I usually eat it plain, and I always use it in lasagna (I am not a huge fan of ricotta, and I have no time for bechemel). I am actually partial to the less-heavy 2%. I am not a big fan of yogurt, and sweet fruity things. Texture people who don’t like mayo, soft sandwiches, etc, are the ones who would hate this stuff. It is not age related.
Not sure hat you mean by young. But I eat it a lot for breakfast with fruit or fruity salsa. Nice quality source of protein.
it’s so good on the side with savory hot dishes…or with garden fresh tomatoes and a little picalilly (green tomato chutney) my kids eat it plain, which I can not do. It has to be WITH something. Just like I can’t drink milk alone. blech.
I also love cottage cheese. I also prefer it savory, with good olive oil and cracked pepper or some vegetables. I had some of the best cottage cheese I’ve had when I visited Israel; really great stuff.
yes and only Nancy’s organic cultured cottage cheese (not affiliated). Tangy, complex, delicious. http://www.nancysyogurt.com/index.php/organic-cottage-cheese
I love cottage cheese plain- just by itself. The thought of adding stuff to it just seems gross. I can eat a whole tub in a few days.
I’m nearly 38 and I love LArge Curd cottage cheese with a little sea salt.
There’s not much tastier than a little cottage cheese served with pepper, chunky, melt-in-your-mouth salt, tomatoes, cukes, leftover asparagus, leftover rare steak slices, all drizzled with very high end olive oil, served with well toasted, buttered, good bread. Save a few bites of toast to collect all the goodness at the end. But I’m guessing I’m old at 53. I probably thought cottage cheese was gross until I was in my 30s.
I eat cottage cheese for breakfast with a little maple syrup and chopped walnuts… delicious!
Define “young”? I eat it, but I didn’t like it when I was “younger”, supposedly it’s good for you too 😉
Oh gosh… I absolutely love cottage cheese. I’m a Midwesterner and have eaten it since I was a baby (now 25). I am not a huge meat fan so as a kid my mom would let me substitute it for a protein source. Which led to my favorite combination that I get endlessly made fun of for… rice and cottage cheese. It’s a go-to meal for me now if I’m cooking dinner alone. You just have to make sure you cook the rice in stock, otherwise it’s a very bland meal. I’m also very picky about making sure the hot rice doesn’t touch the cold cottage cheese until I put them on the same spoon to eat. If you think about it, it’s really just a variation of macaroni and cheese. During the summer, you must put it on fresh sliced tomatoes from the garden with a sprinkle of pepper. Or you can put it on top of pan fried potatoes.Otherwise, we grew up with cottage cheese salad which is shredded carrots, miracle whip, and cottage cheese with a heavy dose of black pepper. (We love our Miracle Whip in the midwest.) On occasion I will eat it with peaches or pears, but I’m mostly a fan of the savory applications. Also I always get it on top of my salads when I get a salad from a salad bar. Serious fan right here!
I’m 21 and really like it! I don’t actually think I’ve had it with anything before but can’t see it going well with sugar and cinnamon?! More like vegetables or on toast or bread. But yum. Yes. 21. Good.
Well, I’m 23 and I’ve been eating cottage cheese my whole life. I love love love it. On top of raisin bread toast it is simply the best.
Cottage cheese is the best but I have been told that I am a 30-year old with grandma traits. As a kid I would eat it with canned peaches, now I’ll have cottage cheese with Ak-Mak crackers and salsa but I don’t see too many other people my age casually eating cottage cheese.
I’m 22 and I grew up eating both chunky and plain cottage cheese. Chunky cottage cheese, diced gherkins, fresh garlic and a smidge of mayo make a delicious dip for crisps or crudités.
I love it, and I’m young!
I LOVE COTTAGE CHEESE. I did grow up eating it, so it’s familiar, but also why I think Knudsen is the best. Tried buying Strauss, Clover and other brands I eat regularly, but Knudsen always wins. It could be nostalgia, but could care less.