A dedicated device was developed in order to monitor the growth of a single bubble in a Magnetic Resonance Imager. The bubble was isolated from a cheese block and enclosed inside a sustaining apparatus. A controlled pressure was applied at the bubble–cheese interface through a needle that was inserted into the bubble. The applied pressure (+ 5.3 kPa) was consistent with the natural pressure measured inside the bubbles of a cheese block during ripening. The volume, the horizontal and the vertical radii as well as deformation of the upper surface of the cylinder of cheese surrounding the bubble were determined from image analysis. The uncertainties on the measurements were estimated, and used as an additional criterion at the validation step of the model. A generalised Maxwell model was used to describe the mechanical behaviour of the cheese. The model parameters used for the simulation were determined in a compression-relaxation experiment on the same cheese block as the one used in the bubble growth experiment. Consistently with the literature, relaxation times from 1 to the order of 10,000 seconds were measured. Quite good agreement between the simulation and the experiment was found in the increase in volume. The ability of a linear model to describe the bubble growth which was mainly driven by the viscous part of the viscoelastic model was confirmed as long as low rate of deformation was involved. No time-independent elasticity was identified.