The Cheese Factory.

The previous night we had dinner at Mango Hill. And had a chance encounter with Francois & Oliver, Proprietors & caretakers of Mango Hill. Thank god I wore my "I love Paris" T-shirt which made the two Frenchmen, one of them a Parisian, a little amused and hopefully a little happy. We were startled to learn that they make homemade cheeses right in Auroville, in their hotel. We were immediately curious to know about the art of cheese making. I gingerly approached Francois for a tour of of their cheese factory. After a bit of deliberation, we settled for a time the next day for the tour. Yeah, Success!

I remember going to Cadbury's factory in Mumbai to learn about chocolate making. As curious as I am about everything in life, I also always wanted to know how cheese is made. The only simple reason I have to give is that I do like good cheese but never thought could find a cheese maker here in India. Well I was lucky!

We reached an hour late for the tour. However, Mango Hill was very kind. After all they live in India and hope they know about IST-Indian stretched time!

Mango hill has an experienced & chirpy cheese master, Shiva. He keeps track & carries out all the necessary processes for making the delicious cheeses.So let me share what we learnt about cheese making that day:

Everyday fresh milk is obtained from the local farmers and they are boiled to a certain temperature and left to cool. The milk is cooled , the enzymes are added. After the milk curdles, it gets strained and put in molds.These molds are then kept under pressure to strain out the excess water. They are then labelled and kept in the maturing room. Depending on the cheese type, the enzymes & the maturing time differs.

Francois & Oliver proudly showed us their cellar where the cheeses are aged. And what a nice array of cheese! Considering the climate, the difficulties and the relatively new interest of cheese in India, I think Mango hill cheeses have a good future. Prepare yourselves for seeing them in shelves across departmental stores soon .I can vouch for the taste (although am a new connoisseur) as me & my friend went on a spree of buying and tasting the different cheeses they had to offer...Gouda, Cumin gouda, Borsalino, Mozzarella, Farmer's cheese, Blu (V's favorite, not mine).

Over a nice cup of coffee and some cheese, we shared stories & views through topics that links & interlinks. Perhaps that is the best part of meeting new people ....as you always learn about new things, new views and about ambitions never heard before. Perhaps it was the best part of the afternoon!

When you are in Auroville, do visit the charming Mango Hill (on old Auroville road) not only for the cheeses but for their wonderful hospitality. Who says French are snobby, atleast not the ones we met that day.Thank you Oliver and thanks especially Francois for sharing your "Top-secrets".

World Cuisine at Auroville

I am not a foodie neither am I a connoisseur of food. But as far as I can remember I liked watching cooking shows, trying out new dishes happily being a mini Nigella in the kitchen(minus the B****). So when I landed in Auroville, I was quite happy to eat out at the different multi cuisine restaurants run by expats settled there.

The first morning unfortunately was a little disappointing. There were no continental breakfast place open on the ERC road. So found a small little place called “CHANDRU’S RESTAURANT” serving Dosa , Idli and regular South Indian food. The Pongal I ordered (which by the way is one of my favourite dish) was non- descriptive, whitish, more rice than dal (thanks to inflation). Oh well, at least our hungry stomachs were full! As we made our way back to the guest house, we promised ourselves to eat better for the rest of the trip.

And we did…at “GIORGIO’S”. We had Mozzarella fritters, frankly you can avoid that. But the pièce de résistance was the Gnocchi con Frutti di mare….Gnocchi, which is a kind of pasta (available in markets in Bangalore) cooked with sea fish. It was light, fresh, slightly thickened with cream and parmesan. A dash of lemon juice after which it promptly disappeared into our waiting stomachs. Strangely Giorgio himself was absent. So we were done with Italian or so we thought.

For dinner, it was time to turn French! We were at “MANGO HILL”, a beautiful hotel with a charming restaurant lovingly run by a French family. The swimming pool of the hotel was especially inviting. We ordered Roasted ham with lightly grilled vegetables for moi & Fish a la Setoise with french fries & garden salad for mon amie. Sadly though, no drinks on the menu ….so had to make do with half a bottle of wine back at the guest house.

The next day afternoon we made runs & reruns to & fro Matri mandir in the quest of finding our next cuisine, Greek! But when we reached there after crossing endless silent forests and lonely roads, the café was closed…for 15^th August!!!!! Now what can possibly be the connection between a baklava or a moussaka & our Independence Day??? Ah well sometime can turn out to be a blessing in disguise…for then we settled for a restaurant called “TANTO’S”. Now we were not looking for Italian again but the fresh wood oven baked pizza at Tanto’s were delicious…So was the grilled grouper with fresh salad…Che Buono! The Mango sorbet was to die for!

The last evening at “LE CLUB”, Pondicherry was the time for Creole food washed with good beers. Who would have thought of Creole food in India…I guess India can surprise Indians too at times!!

Food for thought: Some people say that while on a holiday, food should be the last thing on the mind. But amidst the thrill of seeing new places, meeting new people, starting a journey or arriving at a new destination… isn’t trying out different food & cuisines also a part of the experience, another chapter of the exploration? I think so….