--- ---  # The White House 'Big Block of Cheese Day' Is Back by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 16, 2015 5:47 PM UTC  Chunk of cheese Chunk of cheeseImage Source—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 16, 2015 5:47 PM UTC In the true spirit of Andrew Jackson, and with help from various cast members of _The West Wing_, [the White House has announced](http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/01/24/first-ever-virtual-big-block-cheese-day-white-house-open-questions) a second annual “Big Block of Cheese Day” on Jan. 21. The event was inspired by an open house hosted by President Jackson in 1837, for the public to mingle with cabinet members and White House staffers, where guests were served slices from a 1,400-pound block of cheese. The event was memorialized in NBC’s _The West Wing_, albeit tweaked so that the block of cheese was a constant presence in Jackson’s White House. In Obama’s version, the block of cheese is virtual: Americans are invited to interact with staffers on Twitter, Facebook and other social media, where they can get answers to their questions in real time. The session will come one day after the President’s Jan. 20 State of the Union address. Here’s hoping the event could lure _West Wing_ writer Aaron Sorkin back to Twitter. After all, several cast members of the show helped promote the event in the above video. The White House Hosts Second Virtual 'Big Block of Cheese Day' ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3671796/white-house-big-block-of-cheese/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3671796/white-house-big-block-of-cheese/"},"headline":"The White House 'Big Block of Cheese Day' Is Back","datePublished":"2015-01-16T17:47:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:39:07.965Z","description":"Spoiler alert: you have to BYOC (bring your own cheese)","url":"https://time.com/3671796/white-house-big-block-of-cheese/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1fff76463fcb737/69877a693c1639756b4513c5/154768922.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1fff76463fcb737/69877a693c1639756b4513c5/154768922.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"154768922","caption":"154768922","creditText":"Image Source—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/3671796/white-house-big-block-of-cheese/","name":"The White House 'Big Block of Cheese Day' Is Back"}}]}] ```