A Cheesy Workshop by Dr Daniel Chong, School of Hospitality

Eighty aspiring students from the Pay Fong High School, Malacca stopped by at the School of Hospitality for a workshop, entitled “The Cheesy Workshop: Introduction to Real Cheese”. The workshop is the School of Hospitality’s effort to engage with visiting students to explore learning opportunities in the School of Hospitality and future career prospects.

“Cheese is one of the food items that hasn’t been well-explored by many Malaysians due to its smell, where its commonly referred to as ‘stinky socks’”, Dr Daniel said. He continued to add “Just like how westerners think durian smells like”.

When one hears the word “cheese”, a salty and flat yellow square comes into mind. Dr Daniel challenged the crowd by asking them the question: “Is it real cheese?”. It is important to distinguish real cheese from cheese products to ensure a healthy choice of diet. He continued to share with the students the true definition of cheese and how cheeses are being processed. Sources of cheese are from cow milk, goat milk, sheep milk and buffalo milk. Different sources of cheese will produce cheese with different nutritional value, texture and flavour.

The “fun element”  of the workshop is that the visiting students are also able to taste several different types of cheese, where Dr Daniel continues to explain its variations. The “most challenging” type of cheese that was tasted was the blue-veined cheese, or commonly known as blue cheese. The blue-green marbling all over the blue cheese is actually mold. With its strong flavours, one certainly needs to have an acquired taste for it!