%%
%%
%% The examples have been alphabetized. Please put any new example in its proper place in the folder rather than at the end.
%%
%%
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/moon_cheese_256tp.png]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Organic ingredients, naturally aged.[[note]]No, that's not VideoGame/PacMan.[[/note]]]]

->''"They say the moon is made of green cheese!"''\\
''"No! It's made of cake, candy, and ice cream!"''
-->-- The [[NoNameGiven unnamed]] lead characters of the [[Creator/VanBeurenStudios Van Beuren Aesop's Fables cartoon]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20nTpkKQmP8 "Silvery Moon"]] (1933)

One of the common Moon myths in Western culture is the saying that it is made of "green"[[note]]originally meaning "young"[[/note]] cheese. There was never a time when this was a popular belief, though people sometimes talk as if [[DeadUnicornTrope there really was once a mythic culture credulous enough to believe it]].

This can manifest in many ways in fiction, often [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]]. For example, the moon may be depicted as made of CartoonCheese (possibly even a shade of green), and it may even be inhabited by moon mice (since [[StockAnimalDiet mice love cheese]] and all that).

In VideoGames, this can overlap with LevelAte as applied to lunar settings.

See also TheManInTheMoon, the other common Western folklore about the moon. The closest Eastern equivalent would be the MoonRabbit, which traditionally pounds ''mochi''.
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* An old UsefulNotes/McDonalds ad featured Ronald [=McDonald=] [[https://youtu.be/SoMMmkCZuC8 attempting to reach the moon]] to collect cheese for the restaurant's burgers.
* "The Power of Cheese" mused that for thousands of years, people believed the moon was made of cheese. We landed on the moon in 1969 and checked if this was true. It was not. (pause) We haven't been back since.
* A Ritz Bits commercial from TheNineties featured a box of Ritz crackers rocketing to the moon, in order to use the cheese to become Ritz Bits sandwiches...with cheese!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''Comicbook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'': Little Cheese is a mouse who gets shrinking powers from a chunk of lunar cheese that was being studied by his scientist father. Green cheese as GreenRocks.
* ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'': In an unpublished 1940s story, a villain sends Johnny Thunder to get a piece of green cheese from the moon as one of several {{Impossible Task}}s. Thanks to Johnny's LiteralGenie, he manages to do it anyway.
* ''Literature/RaggedyAnn'': In one comic, Raggedy Ann and Andy (and a visiting astronaut doll) visit the moon and discover a crater full of green cheese while having to dodge real astronauts.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': [[RealityWarper Mr. Mxyzptlk]] once turned the moon into cheese (and then back) as part of one of his pranks to annoy Superman.
* ''Toys/{{Uglydolls}}'': The comic "Once in a Blueberry Moon" plays the idea of the trope with a different food. Tray, all out of food, constructs a plan to travel to the moon, which is a blue one since she assumes it'll taste like [[TrademarkFavoriteFood blueberry pie]]. Eventually, she makes it to the moon, chomps out a bite, and reacts with disgust. [[spoiler:[[BaitAndSwitch It's not blueberry pie, it's raspberry!]]]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat'': Present for a gag in a 1920s Sunday strip. Felix decides to help out a struggling cheese vendor by climbing a tower and pulling the moon directly out of the sky like it's a wheel of cheese, which the shopowner gratefully chops up and begins selling. Unfortunately, he is arrested shortly afterward -- the crime being that [[VisualPun he's selling Moonshine!]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/TheDragonAndTheButterflyWhiteout'': When Mirabel asks why he's been such an ExtremeDoormat, Pedro deflects by asking a nonsensical non-sequitur about how all that cheese got to the moon:
-->'''Pedro:''' ...How'd they get all that cheese on the moon?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'': Their debut short film "WesternAnimation/AGrandDayOut" revolved around the characters travelling to the moon to get cheese. The second short film, "WesternAnimation/TheWrongTrousers", made a reference to it in a newspaper article mentioning how sales of "moon cheese" are soaring.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/AmazonWomenOnTheMoon''. A crewman tells his pet monkey that the first thing he's gonna do upon landing is carve off a hunk of that green cheese, only to get scolded by TheCaptain because they are on a [[ForScience serious scientific expedition]] to disprove such tales.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
%%* Creator/StanislawLem had a short story where Moon accidentally ''became'' made of cheese.%%ZCE, and need a title.
* ''A Brief History of New York'' by Washington Irving: Diedrich Knickerbocker assesses the morality of the conquest of America by suggesting what might happen if the men on the moon colonised the world. According to Knickerbocker, they would be irked by, above all other human precepts and practices, the belief that the moon is made of green cheese.
* ''The Church Mice and the Moon'', by Graham Oakley: Played with. A small camera-carrying rocket to the moon goes astray and ends up in the church instead. At one stage the scientists see a camera image of the mice (who were supposed to go up in the rocket) eating cheese and are overjoyed at this scientific discovery that the Moon is edible.
* ''Literature/{{Cosmicomics}}'': In the first short story, "The Distance of the Moon", the Moon is depicted as having once been close enough to Earth for people to regularly get cheese and milk from it. In this case, rather than the whole thing being made of dairy, the "milk" is a product of organic detritus from Earth being drawn to the Moon and fermenting there.
* ''Literature/HankTheCowdog'': The 5th Audio Only book discusses this trope from the perspective of two (unintelligent) dogs. Drover believes the moon can't really be made out of cheese because cheese sinks. [[InsaneTrollLogic Instead, the moon must be a giant oatmeal cookie because oatmeal floats]].
* ''Literature/MouseMath'': {{Subverted|Trope}} in the picture book ''Lost in the Mouseum'', in which Albert and his friend Leo observe a mouseum display of a large-size newspaper front page which carries the headline "MICE WALK ON MOON: One Small Step for Mouse: Astromice say moon is not made of Green Cheese!"
* ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth'': "THE MOON IS MADE OF GREEN CHEESE" is one of the half-baked ideas cooked up by the half bakery. The Spelling Bee eats the "CHEESE" part first.
* "A 'Rounders' Story about the 'Green Cheese' Moon", by Kenneth Lans, revolves around the green cheese made by giant spiders which is transported to the moon by leaf-cutting ants. It is a clever story of how the earth was formed. By using a simple narrative, giant spiders, a greedy rat, an old wise turtle, jealous mountains, and the main character "green cheese", the readers are introduced to the mountains, and volcanic eruptions, rivers and tides, the desert and the moon and stars which form the Earth.
* ''Space Mice'', written by Lori Haskins Houran and illustrated by Priscilla Alpaugh, is about two very hungry [[StockAnimalDiet mice]] who run out of cheese. They see the moon in the sky and determinedly build a rocket, then fly to the moon and eat their fill. They head back home to a boy's yard on Earth and the boy is stunned that the moon is now a crescent.
* ''Literature/SummerInOrcus'': One of the exotic cheeses available for sale at the Wheystation is a green cheese labeled "Fresh from the slopes of Mare Imbrium".
* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'': ''The Astro-Nots'' sees Jerry decide to join a space training camp alongside other animals to go to the moon [[StockAnimalDiet since he's a mouse and he's interested in visiting a place made entirely of cheese]]. He starts to have second thoughts near the end when he sees pictures of the moon that depict it exactly how it is in real life.
* ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'': The moon is described as being cheese on the near side, honey on the far side.
* ''Yuck, A Love Story'': The moon is made of (yucky-tasting) cheese.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'': In "Jethro's Military Career", Jethro wants to blast off to the moon (by tying himself to a rocket!) so he could meet moon maidens and eat its green cheese.
* ''Series/DoubleDare1986'' has an obstacle called "Moonwalk": a green tube with three entry/exit ports and colored gak representing the cheese. The cheese color depended on the taping day.
* ''Series/TheElectricCompany1971'': There is a sketch where Fargo North is an astronaut in space who receives orders to proceed to the moon. He protests that is impossible since the Moon is made of green cheese and his exasperated partner reminds him that he was told otherwise in training.
* ''Series/EvenStevens'': Mentioned in the episode ''Influenza The Musical'' in the lyrics of Ren's song, saying that the Apollo astronauts were "surprised to find" that the moon was solid and not cheesy. She got an F for her science project, if you couldn't tell. Of course that episode was [[AllJustADream a dream]].
* ''Series/HeyYouWhatIf'': "The Moon Was Made Of Cheese?" shows what would happen if the moon really was made of cheese. It wouldn't stay cheese for long. The cheese would separate with water and gases boiling up to the surface to create oceans and an atmosphere.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'': {{Discussed|Trope}} in "Eat, Drink Juice and Be Merry". Luna tells Bear she doesn't know how that one got started, other than it proving folks always have food on their minds, even when they look up at her.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* ''Roleplay/WeAreOurAvatars'': At some point, some of the group explored a moon made of cheese during their trip to 3E. They encountered Chaos Marines and Serpentera, who survived the encounter.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Theatre/MerrilyWeRollAlong'': In the opening song of the second act, a long list of maybes includes "Maybe the moon is cheese".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
%%* ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfSquare'': The moon has large bases, blue-colored forest, toxic milk rivers, [[LavaPit deadly lava lakes]], and [[spoiler:HauntedCastle]].
%%How is that an example?
%%* ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'': The moon seen in the "Midnight Run" level, as well as in the space levels featured in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootTheHugeAdventure'', is pretty cheese-like.%%How?
* ''VideoGame/DuckTales'': One level is the Moon, and one of its collectibles is a piece of cheese. Also, the boss there is a giant rat.
* ''VideoGame/JamesPond3'': The BigBad hires rats to mine cheese from the moon, which also possesses abundant quantities of other dairy products.
* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIIThePrincelessBride'': During one chapter, the moon falls out of the sky into Falderal (a place based on wordplay and literal figures of speech) and it's revealed to be just a wheel of CartoonCheese. The player is tasked with finding some way of getting it back in the sky before they can leave the area.
* ''VideoGame/LuckBeALandlord'': Destroying a Moon symbol makes it break down into 3 Cheese symbols, which is mostly to reference to this trope as it's usually impractical to do this for gameplay gains.
* ''VideoGame/MadRatDead'': Mad Rat sees a full moon made of yellow cheese at all times of the day. [[spoiler:It's known as the Phantom Moon, it was created by Rat God, and it is her strongest minion.]]
* ''VideoGame/MarioKartSuperCircuit'': The Cheese Land racetrack is set on the Moon, made of CartoonCheese, and inhabited by Mousers. Gravity is the same as everywhere else though. Averted when Cheese Land was brought back for ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'', as the setting had been {{Ret Con}}ned to resemble a desert with a clear blue sky above.
* ''VideoGame/MysteryCaseFiles'': In ''Millionheir'', the secret of [[spoiler:astronomer Lee O. Ryan]] is that he is addicted to the green cheese from which the moon is made and that he sold Phil's private book collection to be able to get the cheese back to Earth.
* ''VideoGame/WithinADeepForest'' and ''#modarchive story'', by Creator/{{Nifflas}}, reference the trope (the former has an entire level set on the Lunar Cheese Extraction Factory), and one of his songs is also called "The Cheese in the Sky".
* ''VideoGame/{{Noita}}'': Successfully navigating the cloudscape and the work above it will allow you to reach the moon. The cheese can be eaten like many other substances in the game, and hollowing out the moon's center will reveal hidden runes.
* ''VideoGame/PajamaSam3YouAreWhatYouEatFromYourHeadToYourFeet'': At one point, you have to find out what type of cheese the moon is made of. [[spoiler:Depending on the game it can be either brie, cheddar, mozzarella, or Monterey Jack.]]
* ''VideoGame/PowerBomberman'': One of the stages is set on the moon, with the soft blocks being wedges of cheese.
* ''VideoGame/PuttPutt'': ''Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon'' has a brief scene that shows a few mice astronaut kids gnawing on the observatory -- much to their mom's dismay. "But it's made of green cheese, Mom!"
* ''VideoGame/RevengeOfTheTitans'': Many of the Moon Campaign's mission locations are named for different kinds of cheese, [[StealthPun disguised with the nomenclature of actual locations on the moon]]--for example, Mare Crisium (RealLife) and Mare [[http://www.latin-dictionary.org/caseum Caseum]] (in-universe).
* ''VideoGame/ScribblenautsUnlimited'': In the "Kana Craters" stage, which is set on the moon, Maxwell encounters a mouse who is convinced the moon contains cheese and asks for a tool to mine for it. If Maxwell gives the mouse a useful tool, like a pickaxe, the mouse will indeed strike cheese, earning Maxwell the Moon Gold shard.
* ''VideoGame/Spyro2SeasonOfFlame'': The "Moon Fondue" level is comprised of green, cheese-like terrain and includes a race of mouse astronauts.
* ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'': Many 2D games have a terrain setting that makes the ground out of cheese, with the implications of a cheesy moon.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': While it's unclear what the actual moon is made up of in the 'verse, there is an exhibit in London's observatory labeled [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20201109 Moon Cheese.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Websites]]
* [[Website/{{Google}} Google Earth]]'s sister site, Google Moon (which provides photos of the moon's surface) at one time [[http://www.penmachine.com/2005/07/truth-after-36-years.html displayed a yellow cheese texture]] at its highest zoom setting (as an EasterEgg), although it has since been fixed.
* Website/Wikipedia article: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_is_made_of_green_cheese The moon is made of green cheese]] discusses the origin of the saying in greater depth. It's actually meant to indicate that someone who believes this is extremely gullible (an analogous modern phrase would be, "[[TheCon And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.]]").
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* WebVideo/BillWurtz's song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpelFcu602A "The Moon is made of Cheese (but i can't taste it)"]] is about... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well, yeah]]. However, note that not being able to taste it isn't due to not being on the moon, but rather because [[{{Absurdism}} the singer is physically incapable of tasting cheese]].
* ''WebVideo/RatsSMP'':
** El's art gallery displays many rat-ified pastiches of classic art pieces created with the Chisel and Bits mod, including a version of "Starry Night" where the Moon is a piece of CartoonCheese.
** Later in the series, this questionably applies to the ''Rats'' universe as a whole: in-game, the Moon is made from End stone, but it has a distinct yellow tint to it and the rats refer to it as "cheese" [[SpaceEpisode when they visit it]] in the Jingle Jam Christmas event. However, no one ever gets around to confirming if this claim is true.
* Discussed, but averted in ''WebVideo/RealTimeFandub'' of the Hero Story of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''; Dr. Eggman [[DetonationMoon destroys the moon]] simply [[DisproportionateRetribution because it was never made of cheese]].
* In the universe of WebVideo/StampysLovelyWorld, this is very much the case, as Stampy discovers. Apples made from lunar cheese[[note]]enchanted golden apples in-game[[/note]] become a plot point in a couple of episodes as well, as they have special healing properties.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'':
** In one episode, Arthur is trying to buy Moon Boots. He imagines himself hopping straight to the moon wearing these. He then grabs a bit of the moon and tastes it, saying that it's green cheese all right!
** ''WesternAnimation/ArthursPerfectChristmas'': In the "Baxter Day" song, Buster Baxter and his Mom "stop by the moon just to make sure it's really made of cheese."
* ''WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil'': "Beanyland" has the gang building a theme park on the moon -- Dishonest John, already mining and selling the cheese there, tries to sabotage the place.
* ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunnyBuilders'': At the beginning of "K-9: Space Puppy", Daffy asks Petunia if either the sun or the moon is made out of cheese. Petunia tells him that neither one is, to which Daffy tells her that he'd like to know for sure by going out into space.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCrumpets'': In "My Family's Full of Losers", while the titular family play a game show where losers get ejected to the moon, their antagonistic CrankyNeighbor Ms. [=McBrisk=] hopes that the losers will like TheManInTheMoon's green cheese. However, the moon (which is [[LandfillBeyondTheStars littered with trash]]) is not made of cheese.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlumps'': Played with in "Moon Shot". Pootle Flump dreams that he travels to the Moon, where he meets a pair of aliens who have come to the Moon for a picnic. They're having green cheese sandwiches, they explain, which they had to bring with them because there's no green cheese on the Moon.
* ''WesternAnimation/HarryAndHisBucketFullOfDinosaurs'': In one episode, Harry and Charlie are arguing over what the moon is made of. Harry thinks it's made out of cheese, while Charlie thinks it's made out of peanut butter. Among the dinosaurs, [[TheSmartGuy Sid]] tried to argue that it's made of rocks, while Trike said the moon is made of chocolate chip cookies. Both kids and the dinosaurs then head to Dinoworld and use a rocket to fly to the moon to see who's right. When they land, they discover that the moon is indeed made out of chocolate chip cookies and Trike boasts that he was right.
* ''WesternAnimation/LetsGoLuna'': In " [[Recap/LetsGoLunaS2E18MrPreciseTheCaseOfTheMissingCheese The Case of the Missing Cheese]]", Mia references this trope by calling Luna her favorite cheese in the sky.
* ''WesternAnimation/MGMOneShotCartoon'': ''Little Buck Cheeser'' is about a group of young mice who build a rocket to go to the moon because it's made of cheese. [[spoiler:It turns out in the end that the main character [[AllJustADream was only dreaming]] when the rocket comes crashing down after they fail to get cheese and attempt to fly home]].
* ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouse'': An early Super Mouse cartoon has the hero cutting the moon slice by slice like a wheel of baby Swiss, letting them fall to Earth so his mice brethren can collect them.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMilkyWay'': As "three little kittens who lost their mittens" explore a dreamland, space is made up entirely of dairy products (e.g., the Milky Way is made of milk, and the moon is made of cheese).
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'': In one cartoon Popeye, Olive, and Wimpy visit the moon, which is actually made of cheese, and populated by [[AnthropomorphicFood cheese-men]]. Unfortunately, the Big Cheese who rules the place is a cruel tyrant. (A dose of spinach later, and Popeye manages to turn him into crumbs.)
* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': In "[[Recap/ReadyJetGoS2E8MindyTurnsFive Mindy Turns Five]]", it is implied that Mindy told her teddy bear that the moon was made out of green cheese.
* ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats1991'': In "[[Recap/RugratsS3E13DestinationMoonAngelicasBirthday Destination Moon]]", the babies get into an old trailer and think that they're astronauts on the moon. Phil and Lil find some old cheese in the garbage, and eat it [[ExtremeOmnivore (with no ill effects)]], thinking it's moon cheese.
* ''WesternAnimation/SevenLittleMonsters'': "Bang! Zoom! To the Moon" has Seven ask if the moon is made of cheese. Three answers that it is actually made of dust and rocks.
* ''WesternAnimation/SheriffCalliesWildWest'': The moon is made of blue cheese.
* ''WesternAnimation/SidTheScienceKid'': In "The Big Cheese", Sid and his mother find a website that says that the moon is made of glowing green cheese. From this, Sid eventually learns a lesson that you can't believe everything you read on the Internet.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'': "The Man in the Moon": There is cheese on the moon that Greedy helps himself to.
* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'': "O Solar Meow" ends with Jerry on the moon, which has large quantities of cheese. Another short featured Tom and Jerry operating a lunar mining operation, where the caverns were made entirely of cheese.
* ''WesternAnimation/TUFFPuppy:'' In "[[Recap/TUFFPuppyS1E5ToastOfTUFFShareALair Toast of T.U.F.F.]]", Snaptrap's evil plan is to [[DetonationMoon blow up the moon]], since he thinks it's made of cheese, which he can't eat due to having a severe cheese allergy that causes him to swell up massively, which is [[IronicAllergy ironic since he is a rat]]. When Ollie tries to talk him out of it by saying that scientists have proven that the moon is not made of cheese, Snaptrap denies it by saying that the real reason he's blowing up the moon is to get rid of the werewolves.
* Creator/VanBeurenStudios: Subverted in the Van Beuren Aesop's Fables cartoon [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e35i-n9Kefg "Silvery Moon"]], 1933, where the lead character suggests the old myth that the moon is made of green cheese, but his girlfriend insists that the moon is actually made of cake, candy, and ice cream. Once they set foot on the moon, the latter is proven to be right.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheWackyAdventuresOfRonaldMcdonald'': The ending portion of the live-action FramingDevice for "Visitors from Outer Space" has Ronald suggest going to the moon and looking for cheese as a possible future space adventure.
* ''WesternAnimation/YogisArkLark'': While the Creator/HannaBarbera cast are in space, Pixie and Dixie run by with a slice of cheese. Huckleberry Hound sees them and asks where they found it. He then makes a realisation and glances at the moon. Sure enough...
[[/folder]]
----