Chinese Cheese

Since it is relatively well known that very little Chinese food involves cheese, I was curious when I saw that Wong Wan-Lee ate “chinese cheese” at the festival for Chinese New Year. At first I thought, because it is in New York, perhaps this is an example of Chinese and Chinese Americans incorporating different foods into their cooking and diets, but as it turns out, people in China have been making cheese for centuries. It certainly doesn’t have the same prevalence as cheese has in American culture, since it is only traditionally made by a few groups; indeed, Chinese cuisine still uses very little dairy in general. Nonetheless, the Bai people in the Yunnan province make and eat two kinds of cheese, rubing and rushan, which have gained some popularity among the local Han people who eat it at festivals.  

“Rubing” means “cake made of cheese,” and it is traditionally made of goat’s milk; the Bai term for it is “youdbap” which means goat’s milk. It is usually served sliced, fried, and sprinkled with salt or sugar. “Rushan” means “fan cheese” and it looks quite a bit different from rubing; it is sold in large sheets because the fresh curds are dried and stretched on a bamboo frame. It is served cut up and fried, making it light and crispy, and it is always made from cow’s milk. Both varieties are served to guests or at festival times, which is relevant since Wong Wan-Lee eats it at Chinese New Year. 

The history of cheese in China is hazy since not much is recorded and there are very few references to cheese in any records. There is a legend describing a man who comes across the technique by accident, which is possible since cheese isn’t terribly difficult to make and there are similar varieties in many places across the world (paneer in India, for example.) Still, perhaps the Bai people learned their methods from contact with others. Interestingly, the Sani people, an unofficially recognized minority and branch of the Yi, make rubing with the same methods as the Bai people. This is curious because the Yi are pastoralists and do not historically use milk of any form and because they are 500 km away from the Bai. This unusual culinary similarity between the Sani and the Bai supports an idea that these two groups had contact in the past, maybe that the Sani even came from the region where the Bai people live. 

By looking at similarities between the unusual practice of cheese making in China, we can also attempt to discern levels of contact between groups of people and the way information and techniques travel.  

Allen, Bryan, and Silvia Allen. “Mozzarella of the East (Cheese-making and Bai culture).”