[kortilla]

>Who thought that “1 cup of cheese” was a reasonable measurement?,

It’s easier to use a 1 cup scoop to grab something quickly than it is to weigh something out.

[rat9988]

Which cup?

[IgorPartola]

In case you are not from the US, an official freedom unit of volume is a cup which equals 8 fluid ounces (not the same as ounces which are a unit of weight; yeah it really is that dumb). Almost all cooking recipes use teaspoons (5ml), tablespoons (15 ml), or fractions of a cup (1 fluid oz, 29 ml or so), including for measuring things like cheese, herbs, pasta, etc. No American recipe website will ever say “use 200 grams of butter), it will tell you how many cups of butter to use.

[walshemj]

And American Fluid Oz are not the same as real Imperial Fluid Oz which is another difference to work with.

[jsmith99]

Or how many sticks of margarine, according to their favourite margarine brand.