from collections import Counter

cheese = ["gouda", "brie", "feta", "cream cheese", "feta", "cheddar",
          "parmesan", "parmesan", "cheddar", "mozzarella", "cheddar", "gouda",
          "parmesan", "camembert", "emmental", "camembert", "parmesan"]

cheese_count = Counter(cheese)

print(cheese_count.most_common(3))
# Output: [('parmesan', 4), ('cheddar', 3), ('gouda', 2)]