CCCT Business Lunch: Blessed are the Cheesemakers

Guest Speaker: Henry Foung, Founder of Dida Creamery
Date & Time: Thursday, 20th July, 12:00 to 2:00 pm
Venue: MacKay Room, Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (No. 1 Songzhi Road, 6F, Taipei)
Cost: CCCT Members $500, non-members $800 (Includes lunch and soft drinks)

Register Here! 

Henry Foung of Dida Creamery is coming up from Taichung to tell us how he became one of Taiwan’s best-known foreign cheesemakers. Six years ago Henry was working for an advertising agency in Taipei when he decided that his next culinary challenge would be cheese-making. It took only a small amount of research to confirm that no one in Taiwan was doing the same, and then an even shorter period of time to understand why. Cheese-making is hard!

Henry’s first attempts at cheese-making would take place in the kitchen at home in Taipei. Returning home after a day at the office, he would read up about the cheese-making process and experiment into the early hours, tinkering with temperatures, and different kinds of milk. It wasn’t long before the first curds began to form, and along with them came an enduring passion for cheese-making. Back then, there were no dreams of making cheese for a living, but this was certainly becoming an obsession.

Although those very first attempts produced somewhat ‘mixed’ results, over time the cheeses became more recognizable and the taste more refined; the farmhouse cheddar finally tasted cheddar-y! Friends and family coming over for dinner would sample the latest creations, and were soon asking if there were any samples going spare, and could they perhaps take a slice home?


One of the most telling insights for Henry and Brenda in those early days was the importance of milk. Sourcing high quality, locally produced, raw milk, proved to be no small undertaking. Henry and Brenda travelled the length and breadth of the island and quickly came to understand that almost all raw milk in Taiwan is quickly bought up by those huge corporations who stock the shelves of the nation’s supermarkets.

Contacting farmers directly, they visited scores of dairy farms around the country and witnessed first-hand the conditions in which the cows were being housed and the process of feeding and milking the herd. They eventually found a small family run dairy farm in Chang Hua County and a dairy farmer who agreed to provide them with a steady supply of the fresh, high quality raw milk necessary for producing the best flavour and texture of cheese. Brenda maintains that without their friendly farmer on board, Dida Creamery would never have been born, “The cows seem so happy, and that is all down to the conditions in which they live and the care shown for them by their farmer.”

Please join us on Thursday, 20th July for an interesting and informative presentation on Henry’s experience in starting a cheese company in Taiwan

Note: No walk-ins. Advance registration is required. No-shows and late cancellations (less than 24 hrs) will be billed for the full amount.

Register Now!