Ugandan Cheesemaking Adventures
When considering various cheesemaking areas of the world, East Africa is not usually the first region that springs to mind. However, between 2004-2006, I was offered the chance to do some extensive dairy development work with farmers and cheesemakers in Uganda, Kenya and Sudan.
Coming from a world of high-end cheese retail, the contrast was huge, and yet utterly rewarding. It became clear that despite the climatic and cultural differences, many of the farmers and cheesemakers face identical challenges to those in developed parts of the world. Therefore, it was a question of adapting what I knew, as opposed to adopting.
The Non Government Organization (NGO) behind these programs is, somewhat surprisingly, Land O Lakes. Yes. The same huge dairy cooperative with the iconic native American lady as their logo, also has a very active International Dairy Development program, that does very valuable - and largely unsung – work in some of the poorest regions of the world. www.idd.landolakes.com
Here are a selection of photos from some of the farmers, cheesemakers and dairies that I worked with.
Could you please say more
Could you please say more about your experiences there? I was not aware that cheese was part of the cultural/food traditions of Uganda. How did that work? Is Land O'Lakes trying to incorporate cheese into people's diets there?
Hello there, Traditionally,
Hello there, Traditionally, dairy was very much in the Ugandan diet, but mostly in the format of milk and yogurt. Cheese is a relatively new thing, becoming jump-started with the demand created by a large ex-pat community that resides especially in Kampala. The ex-pats understandably like having something that reminds them of home and hence created a small market for aged cheeses. In addition, over the last few years, the trend for many young Ugandans who traditionally would have stayed in their villages until getting married, is changing in that many more young single people are moving to the city for work.
The way that this affects the cheese market, is that many of them now have disposable income and aspire to what they perceive as a more western way of life, which includes eating cheese and wine.
The work that Land O Lakes is involved with has much more to do with helping rural economies and farmers/cheesemakers who are keen to add more value to the milk they already produce. My admiration for their work is largely founded in the fact that they operate at about 98% local capacity, meaning they employ local people as opposed to westerners with their objective being for the projects to become self-sustaining as soon as is realistic.
Kate Arding
Founder, Culture magazine
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