CRI听力：Cheese Made in China

Ask any Chinese person if they like the taste of cheese, and they’ll likely say no. At least not
cheeses of the stinky and runny variety. Cheese is rarely found in the traditional Chinese diet, except in southern China’s Yunnan Province where local minority groups make an un-aged cheese using water buffalo milk and rice vinegar. And even with the rising popularity of fast food and pizza in China, gourmet cheese is mostly imported and purchased by the country’s small expat community in Beijing and Shanghai.

But China’s consumption of dairy products, including cheese, has more than doubled in the last ten years. So what does this mean for China’s growing dairy industry? And is it possible to make good cheese in China?

On the program today is Marc de Ruiter, a Dutch agriculturalist making farmhouse Gouda cheese in Shanxi Province since 2003. He works with local small scale dairy farmers and uses traditional Dutch recipes to make an all natural Gouda cheese that tastes creamy and smooth. I caught up with Marc during his brief visit to Beijing last week to talk about his Yellow Valley Cheeses and how his cheese business fits into China’s dairy industry.