Thou shalt not eateth pungent cheese on the Sabbath…

In Houston it is illegal to buy Limburger cheese on Sunday…At least, according to the internet. In fact it’s even listed on Limburger’s wikipedia page under the trivia section! I was actually fairly surprised by both how wide spread this rumor was and by how many people believed it. Scanning over various online legal forums, people concocted a number of far stretched explanations for why this ‘law’ existed; the most popular of which being that it was somehow related to Texas’s Blue Laws.

Now, it is true that until 1985, the blue laws here prevented the sale of items like hammers, nails, washing machines, pots, pans, and other housewares (not to mention booze) on Sunday, but there’s no mention of cheese being banned. Besides, if Limburger were banned by the blue laws, it would be a state wide, or at the very least, county wide ban, not city wide. I decided that I needed to get to the bottom of this. Scanning over both Houston’s Municipal Codes and the TABC Codes I found absolutely no mention of a cheese ban. It seemed like there was only one way left to verify that this was all nonsense; I’d have to go buy some cheese.

So, last Sunday I strolled on down to Central Market, picked up a brick of Limburger, and boldly walked up to the cash register…Where I was rung up with out a problem. Don’t believe me? Well, here’s the receipt so you can see for yourself:






So, yes, you can buy Limburger cheese on a Sunday in Houston. And, despite what people say about it doesn’t smell that pungent and it has a delicious taste.