There can be few more dispiriting experiences for a cheese lover than viewing the contents of the dairy product chiller at either of the major local supermarket chains.
Dozens upon dozens of non-biodegradable plastic packages are stacked one on top of the other. They contain, for the most part, a substance that's called cheese, but tastes barely distinguishable from the material it is wrapped in.
Count them - 'cheese sticks', 'cheese singles', 'cheese' in toothpaste tubes. I've yet to come across it, but I'm informed it is even possible to buy it in an aerosol can.
What all these products have in common, of course, is that they are designed to sell cheese to people who either don't like it, or don't yet know enough to decide.
It is a myth that Chinese don't eat cheese, but this is the cheese that a good proportion of the population eats, or there wouldn't be so much of it on sale. That means many are clogging up their arteries with bland generic products that use additives for flavour and long shelf lives.
Children, meanwhile, at whom many processed cheese products are aimed, are having their expectations of a noble foodstuff distorted to the point where a programme of cheese re-education is needed.