Chinese discover delights of cheese
Print Edition
LIU Yajia is a rare thing in China — a cheese connoisseur.
She can reel off names, flavors and production processes of varieties of cheeses that few people have heard of.
A recent video of a cheese platter on her WeChat microblog drew considerable attention.
The 36-year-old media professional is one of a growing number of Chinese developing a taste for cheese and Western foods made with cheese, such as pizza, pasta and tiramisu. For Liu, cheese is a link to European culture and tradition.
“Each cheese reminds me of the beautiful scenery and traditions of Western countries I have visited,” says Liu, who discovered her taste for cheese while studying in London.
For decades, Chinese disdained cheese as little more than salty solid milk — but that was then. According to China Customs, imports of cheese in 2014 reached 65.69 million kilograms, almost double that of 2012. China’s cheese market was valued at 844 million yuan (US$125 million) by September 2015, indicating about 11 percent of Chinese families bought cheese at least once a year.
Brands including President and Anchor and varieties such as Parmesan occupy ever more fridge space in Chinese supermarkets. Restaurants and online shops are also outlets.
The world’s largest dairy exporter, Fonterra, boasted that more than 300 million pizzas in China were dressed with its mozzarella last year.
In the 1990s, Western cheese companies adjusted their recipes — making them slightly sweeter — to suit Chinese palates. However, Liu Yajia is not fond of sweet cheese after living in the West. In 2003, she began to frequent London cheesemongers like Paxton & Whitfield, in the hope of practicing her English, because the salespeople “always fervidly discussed anything about cheese.”
But a love of good cheese soon became her prime motivation. She also incorporated aspects of foreign cuisine and Western cooking styles into her meals.
Study and travel abroad have raised awareness of Western habits and lifestyles. More than 120 million Chinese tourists went abroad last year, according to the World Tourism Cities Federation.
Liu Yang studied for six years in France, where he learnt the art of making cheese from a neighbor. Returning to Beijing, he opened a homemade cheese shop, Le Fromager de Pekin, in 2008. In the early years, most of his customers were foreigners.
He sold his French-style cheeses mainly to five-star hotels or Western restaurants. “But now Chinese customers account for more than 50 percent,” said Liu, who is going to open a pizza restaurant to woo more customers.
The thriving popularity of cheese, he added, was partly due to people gradually understanding the importance of nutrition and healthier eating. Members of China’s growing middle class are ready to pay a little extra to sample new flavors, particularly if they come with health benefits.
Chefs and cheesemakers are now creating new dishes to woo Chinese customers, often sharing the results online.
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