Hongkongers are over the first curdle - so here comes the smelly stuff

Yesterday saw the launch of Hong Kong's first cheese festival, an expo designed to introduce the public to some 200 artisan cheeses, most of them French.

The organisers One Minute Before are also laying on dinners with cheese menus developed by food designer and festival director Loic Serot and Michelin-star chef Philippe Orrico at Hullett House. The event also includes workshops on the history of cheese, cheese-making and cheese and wine pairing.

Expecting about 2,500 visitors, Serot says Hongkongers have 'become more open to different types of culinary experience' especially for luxury cheeses and natural, farm-fresh products.

The statistics tend to back him up. According to government figures, cheese imports across all categories have risen 150 per cent in volume over 10 years but 244 per cent in value. While we are certainly eating more processed and industrial cheese than ever, we are also eating more premium, hand-made cheeses, with a variety of flavours and textures.

Last year, pastry chef, author and blogger Gr?goire Michaud wrote Got Cheese? an English/Chinese bilingual book aimed at the Hong Kong market. Michaud says he can't imagine it would have been possible to sell the book or worthwhile to hold a cheese festival when he arrived here 12 years ago.

However, the Swiss-French pastry chef, who spent his teenage summers milking cows by hand, says that he saw a definite gap in the market for cheese knowledge, which made his book a commercial proposition.