 |
| (File Photo) |
Ethinic herders in China's border areas have long made all kinds of cheeses and dairy foods, using yak, buffalo, goat, sheep, mare and camel milk. Gao Ceng takes a bite and a sip.
Dairy food was long absent from the Han Chinese diet until Western culture flooded in. Cheese was virtually unknown.
Cheese (nai lao 奶酪) and yogurt (suan nai 酸奶) have been common for thousands of years among ethnic nomadic herding people in border regions, but these people historically were regarded as barbarians by ancient Han Chinese. Cheese was associated with barbarian cultures and, hence, avoided.
In addition, Chinese tend to avoid uncooked foods and some people find the smell of cheese unpleasant. Further, there was and still is a high proportion of lactose-intolerance among Han Chinese.
Today both imported and domestic cheeses are increasingly popular. Western types also are produced in China.
But Chinese cheese is distinctive; some can be chewed for hours like gum.
Sanitation worker, environmental protector in city
Feedback
RSS
