Friday, Saturday and Sunday we were confronted with huge plastic platters piled high with cheeses: cheddar, swiss, jalepeno jack, orange colby, white colby, and our personal favorite: the colby that is speckled with white and orange. After this weekend filled with a variety of cubed-cheese catered events we are left asking why caterers and chefs make the decision to cube the cheese? Why not slice it? Slices taste far superior to cubes (and we'll leave the discussion about the odd taste of Colby cheese for another entry).

Is the decision to cube versus slice based in aestethic reasons? One of the spots where we consumed the cubes was at an art opening. Maybe there was intention in the rough chops to create a more physical, sculptural work in the cheese. The art we were viewing was two-dimensional so why not make the food the viewers eat have some physicality to it? There is a certain beauty to a pile of orange and white blocks. Slices would make less of an artistic impact. Three dimensions are bold. A pile of 2-dimensional slices only command to be eaten. The blocks say: "We're thick and solid. When you eat us, you'll get more cheese than you can handle so you better have a glass of cheap red wine to wash me down."

But we think that the decision to cube has more to do with efficiency. With a few swift strokes the chopper has a huge pile of little cheese bricks. When preparing food for volumes of people, there is a need to find short cuts. And that's what caterers do best.

But where did this cheese cutting technique come from? Our culinary sleuths intend to get to the bottom of this slicing mystery. Our hypothesis:

1. Cubing of cheese began with the Swiss. When preparing fondue, the chef would cube cheese for speedier melting. At some point unmelted cubes were consumed, enjoyed, and the trend caught on.

Send us your hypothesis.