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| Sunday, 19 May 2002 |
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Sel lipi : Cheese Culture There was an item in the newspaper the other day about the health authorities in Colombo having confiscated cheeses from several supermarkets in the city. Apparently, these cheeses were contaminated with a fungus. The health authorities, it was reported, were ascertaining whether the contamination had taken place during the manufacturing process or because of the power cuts having affected the refrigerators in which they were stored. It struck this writer that some of the most expensive cheeses in the world are, in fact contaminated with various fungi. The 'blue' and 'green' of the best gourmet cheeses are actually caused by fungi, which are deliberately induced to grow on the cheeses to enhance their flavour. Sri Lanka has not been much of a cheese-consuming nation. This is illustrated by the fact that the Sinhalese word for 'cheese' is 'keju' (as in the story 'nariya saha keju kaella' - (the jackal and the piece of cheese), but few people actually know the meaning of the word. (A similar situation exists with sausages, few people knowing the term 'lingus'; this writer has actually heard sausages referred to as 'keells'.) For ages, it seems the cheese-consuming classes of Sri Lanka have been eating processed Cheddar, so that their taste buds have become accustomed to it. With the spread of the cheese eating habit, the ubiquitous Kraft Processed Cheddar has become almost generic for cheese in this country. The main competitors remain processed cheeses. The Sri Lankans are very conservative in their eating habits. Some become ill if they cannot have rice and curry three times every day. Recently, a Sri Lankan delegation to a European country stayed a week in an area noted for its cuisine. One day, they were hosted for lunch at a Sri Lankan residence and all the members of the delegation cheered up when they found they were getting rice and curry. So, by definition food is rice and curry and cheese is processed Cheddar. Some years ago, the Kotmale Swiss Cheese Company introduced an excellent ball cheese. Happily this managed to sell and is still available. However, other sorts of cheese find it difficult to obtain anything more than a niche. For example, blue cheese was once available at the nearest supermarket to this writer, but is no longer. Which makes one wonder, were the cheeses that were confiscated by the health authorities gourmet cheeses? Was it for this reason there was the cryptic reference to the possibility of them having been contaminated during the manufacturing process? How are our municipal health watchdogs to know that there could fun in fungi? - Gotabhaya |
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