Several cheeses included anatto and other similar things, so the association may come from that (which can dye the cheese) as much or more than the color itself.
Real Cheddar does not need paint to taste good, it is the cheap variants that need the coloring and maybe even flavour additives.
And adding carrot or beetroot juice to cheese to make Red Leichester was a similar marketing ploy, just a few hundred years before it needed to be done to make cheap proto cheese look more expensive.
Several cheeses included anatto and other similar things, so the association may come from that (which can dye the cheese) as much or more than the color itself.
If the cheese is dyed, it is fake anyway. Real cheese needs no food coloring.
Red Leicester, cheddar, etc. are not real cheese? 0.o
Real Cheddar does not need paint to taste good, it is the cheap variants that need the coloring and maybe even flavour additives.
And adding carrot or beetroot juice to cheese to make Red Leichester was a similar marketing ploy, just a few hundred years before it needed to be done to make cheap proto cheese look more expensive.