From The Economist, September 10:
Thank modern fermentation, changing diets and pizza
FOR MILLENNIA Indians resisted cheese. Cow-worshipping Hindus consider milk to be sacred. Souring cow’s milk to make yogurt was OK, but ageing it into cheese using an enzyme from a slaughtered calf’s stomach in the style of uncivilised Europeans was a bit much, and cheeses made from yak, goat or sheep milk never really caught on. Cheese can also upset Indian palates. Give a grey-haired Indian something punchier than the bland paneer used in curries, and even today they may recoil.
Yet change is under whey. India is the world’s bovine superpower, churning out almost 250m tonnes of milk a year, a quarter of global supply. Its middle class is growing keen on foreign foods. And the diets of less well-off Indians are being reshaped by fast food. In short, the time is ripe for a subcontinental cheese boom. India’s $1.5bn cheese market is growing at almost 20% a year.
On a typical supermarket shelf in Delhi you may now find five or six cheeses, including Indian-made mozzarella, cheddar and feta (these days mass-market cheeses can be made with enzymes derived from vegetables). Many are branded, humbly, as “melting cheese”. Amul, a dairy behemoth, leads the market. Its 500g “cheese block”—available for 300 rupees ($3.14) on Blinkit, a quick-delivery platform—is rubbery but not bad under the grill.
“For most Indians the entry point to cheese was pizza,” explains Tanushree Bhowmik, a food writer. Pizza Hut, an American chain, opened its first branch in India three decades ago. Now it has nearly 1,000. Many Indians make pizza at home, using shop-bought bases or yesterday’s chapatis. “The Italians might not approve,” concedes Ms Bhowmik. Cheese-draped burgers, wraps and sandwiches are also common fare....
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NOW try telling 1.2 billion Hindus (worldwide) that the cows have to go because of their belching (and a bit of flatulence)
