The average American in 2009 consumed almost an ounce and a half of cheese a day, according to the Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System of the Economic Research Service (ERS), three times as much cheese as she or he did in 1970. But the kind of cheese we eat has also changed, perhaps because of the ever increasing popularity of pizza.
These charts, and many more, are available in December 2011 of Amber Waves, a publication by the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.