RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Here's another instance where life imitates art. The old TV drama "The West Wing" presented a fantasy version of the White House and it included an episode where the administration put on an event that staffers could not quite believe.
(SOUNDBITE TV SHOW, "THE WEST WING")
MONTAGNE: That was the TV show, but now he staff of the real White House is holding a real-world Big Block of Cheese Day.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Which raises a vital question: Just what is Big Block of Cheese Day? Well, let's have fictional White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry played by the late John Spencer explain the history.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE WEST WING")
MONTAGNE: Those hungry citizens were allowed to mingle with White House staff and have their voices heard directly, a sort of open house, just a cheesy one. That was a hard sell for Leo, the TV character.
(SOUNDBITE FROM TV SERIES "THE WEST WING")
INSKEEP: Now, in the show they all come around and eventually bring out the big cheese, and this year too "West Wing" cast members are even helping the White House promote their Big Block of Cheese Day, which is a virtual event. Staffers are making themselves available on social media. So just keep track. Andrew Jackson, big cheese, that's true.
"The West Wing," that's fiction. The current Big Block of Cheese Day, that is real, but virtual, on social media. This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.