Historically dairy products have not been the providence of East Asian countries; the cheesiest thing about Chinese food may very well be Hello Kitty dishware. Cattle, especially dairy cows, are a relatively new import to the region and Asians have a high incidence of lactose intolerance, making cheese one of the least enticing imported products, although one that is sorely missed by Shanghai’s expat community. A smattering of minority groups making cheese can be found in Yunnan, Tibet and Mongolia, using the milk of goats, yaks, camels and horses, but low-quality domestic cheese with a texture reminiscent of plastic and astronomically priced imports have dominated the Chinese market for the past decade – until now.

The movement toward artisan cheesemaking within the Middle Kingdom’s borders is gaining momentum, especially as large-scale Chinese run operations have come under fire for food safety incidents, like the melamine scandal in 2008. The smaller fromageries popping up around the country are usually the work of foreigners who demand transparent supply chains and source high quality milk that is submitted to extensive testing before being separated into curds and whey.

Ambrosia, a local cheesemaker that produces more than ten varieties of cheese in addition to other dairy products like yoghurt and sour cream, was the brainchild of the Shanghainese owner, Mrs Chen. A businesswoman who had imported cheese for over a decade, Chen decided to cut out the middleman and hired Daniel Smith, a Kiwi with the education and background to design and run a cheese factory.

“The first thing we did was find the milk, as it’s the most important ingredient in making good cheese,” says Smith. Their initial visits to dairy farms in the area were disappointing. “The first place we went to, I saw the milk and thought, ‘I can’t make cheese out of that!’” Luckily, the pair discovered two clean feedlot farms in Songjiang that can supply the 3.5 tonnes of milk they use per week to keep up with the city’s demand for mascarpone and asiago.

Ambrosia isn’t the only artisan cheesemaker pumping out cheese made with quality milk in Shanghai. After living in Italy for 14 years and having a love affair with the country’s prized pizza topping, native South Korean Kyeong Joo Lee moved to Shanghai and started her own company, naming the mozzarella mongering operation “Solo Latte” (Italian for “only milk”) as a nod to the importance of the ingredient’s role in cheesemaking. Imported from a dairy farm in Germany, all of Lee’s milk meets international organic standards, but this fresh cheesemaker admits that there’s another reason she spends most of her budget on shipping in certified milk.

“We’re not experts on making mozzarella, so we can’t take any shortcuts. I buy the best ingredients I can find in order to make the best cheese,” Lee says. “Mozzarella is made of three ingredients: milk, salt and rennet – even our sea salt comes from Sicily!”