--- title: White House Celebrates Big Block Cheese Day description: Following President Obama's last State of the Union, the White House will host a day-long question and answer session Wednesday online. canonical: https://time.com/4177369/white-house-big-block-cheese-day/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-13T16:14:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:00:28.569Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Celebrates Big Block Cheese Day og:description: A day-long question and answer session Wednesday online. og:url: https://time.com/4177369/white-house-big-block-cheese-day/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb847ffce435b5d2d/698878f1cd1bbaab646feee2/white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: US President Barack Obama walks through the Colonnade from the Oval Office on January 12, 2016 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Celebrates Big Block Cheese Day twitter:description: A day-long question and answer session Wednesday online. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb847ffce435b5d2d/698878f1cd1bbaab646feee2/white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Celebrates Big Block Cheese Day With Online Q&A Session > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 13, 2016 4:14 PM UTC  US President Barack Obama walks through the Colonnade from the Oval Office on January 12, 2016 in Washington, DC. US President Barack Obama walks through the Colonnade from the Oval Office on January 12, 2016 in Washington, DC. MANDEL NGAN—AFP/Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 13, 2016 4:14 PM UTC Following President Obama’s last [State of the Union](http://time.com/4178279/state-union-transcript-2016/), the White House will host a day-long question and answer session Wednesday online. Americans will have the opportunity to chat with White House staff, members of Congress and senior cabinet members during the White House’s third annual Big Block of Cheese Day. Throughout the day, the White House invites users to ask questions using the hashtag #BigBlockOfCheeseDay on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr. Answers will be provided by [First Lady Michelle Obama](http://time.com/4178386/state-union-michelle-obama-dress/), Vice President Joe Biden, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and many more in a list that includes over 40 names. In it’s third year, Big Block of Cheese Day is a clever riff on an open house Andrew Jackson hosted in 1837 at the White House, featuring a 1,400-pound block of cheese that he invited participants to chip away at. It also pokes fun at a tradition from the fictional White House drama _The West Wing_, where staffers hosted an annual open house to allow lesser heard groups to voice their opinions. You can find the full list of participants at the [White House site](https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/01/08/big-block-cheese-day-back-again-gouda-time), as well as instructions on how to participate in Big Block Cheese Day. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4177369/white-house-big-block-cheese-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4177369/white-house-big-block-cheese-day/"},"headline":"White House Celebrates Big Block Cheese Day With Online Q&A Session","datePublished":"2016-01-13T16:14:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:00:28.569Z","description":"Following President Obama's last State of the Union, the White House will host a day-long question and answer session Wednesday online.","url":"https://time.com/4177369/white-house-big-block-cheese-day/","keywords":["White House","State of the Union 2016"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb847ffce435b5d2d/698878f1cd1bbaab646feee2/white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb847ffce435b5d2d/698878f1cd1bbaab646feee2/white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Barack Obama walks through the Colonnade from the Oval Office on January 12, 2016 in Washington, DC.","caption":"US President Barack Obama walks through the Colonnade from the Oval Office on January 12, 2016 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"MANDEL NGAN—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4177369/white-house-big-block-cheese-day/","name":"White House Celebrates Big Block Cheese Day With Online Q&A Session"}}]}] ```