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When Liu Yang went to study in France, he did not expect to develop a passion for cheese and make it his profession once he returned to China, where it’s viewed — and sniffed — with suspicion.

But eight years on, Liu, 35, has become one of China’s few cheesemakers, setting up shop in Beijing, where he produces cheese for expatriates and tries to convince his doubtful countrymen of its virtues.

Liu was first introduced to the art of cheesemaking by a neighbor while he was living in the lush mountains of Corsica, a Mediterranean island off the coast of southern France, where he was studying international trade.

“He made me taste goat’s cheese and I thought it was delicious,” Liu said in French as he poured milk into a large vat for a fresh batch of cheese in his north Beijing shop.

“Sometimes he brought over his cheese, which really smelled, and I supplied the baijiu [Chinese white liquor], and we would eat and drink together,” he said.

The encounter prompted Liu to study cheesemaking at a local agricultural school.

“All the people studying with me came from cheesemaking families and they were all French — I was the only foreigner and I couldn’t make cheese, but they really looked after me,” he said.

At that time, Liu had already decided to return to China to specialize in cheese. But China is not a country of cheese. Many Chinese people find dairy products hard to digest and associate cheese with obesity.

But according to research firm Euromonitor International, cheese consumption in China has grown “dramatically” in recent years, although processed cheese is still favored.

“The product is more to the taste of Chinese consumers, and unspreadable cheese is often eaten for breakfast with toast or in a sandwich,” the firm said in a report. “Unprocessed cheese is hardly seen in retail channels, as people do not know how to use it.”

Still, according to a 2007 report by food industry Web site www.21food.com, rising cheese imports indicated “that cheese could follow liquid and powdered milk, and yogurt in becoming another hot trend.”

So Liu started cheesemaking in 2007. “I started off making the cheese in my kitchen, and I would go eat at the restaurant every day as a result because I just didn’t want to cook anymore,” he said.

That year, Liu met his future wife, who supported his endeavor — after initial reservations. “At first, she didn’t like eating cheese,” Liu said. “But now she likes brocciu [a Corsican goat’s cheese], and she is starting to appreciate camembert, but she still doesn’t like blue cheese.”

Liu opened his shop last month after transforming part of the premises into a cheesemaking operation, complete with a large cold room. “I used all my savings to do this,” he said of the operation that cost him nearly 100,000 yuan ($15,000).

Liu, who has not yet made money, is first targeting Beijing’s large expatriate community through tastings and deliveries, but he also aims to slowly introduce Chinese people to French-style cheeses.

“Chinese customers like brocciu and fromage frais, although they do ask to put sugar in that,” he said.

To prove his point over lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant, Liu brought out some of his trademark Gris de Pekin, which translates as Beijing Gray, which is based on French camembert.

He cut a piece for a restaurant employee, who picked it up suspiciously with chopsticks, sniffed it and nibbled.

“It’s good,” he said, unconvincingly.



Agence France-Presse