In most parts of China, cheese is regarded as weird and alien. Dairy foods have been largely absent from the Chinese diet, and cheese almost unknown. When treated with cheese, many may well complain of this “smelly” and “muttony” food.
But in many parts of Yunnan Province in Southwest China, cheese-"milk cake" or “milk fan”, locally called "ru bing" or "ru shan", is a very famous specialty, though many Chinese are uncomfortable with the very idea of cheese.
In many places around Kunming, such as Shilin County, which is famous for the Stone Forest where weird rocks have sprouted out of the red-brown earth, locals keep goats as the main livestock-not only for mutton, but also for the goat-cheese as a cottage industry.
One will be stuck by how similar goat-cheese is to tofu or beancurd, which is made in almost the same way. Prepared by frying and steaming, goat cheese is a must-try snack in Yunnan, and stir-fried cheese (golden on both sides) is what you would only find in Yunnan.
In the northwest of Yunnan, like Dali, a wide area of steppes has energised the animal husbandry. Like Shilin County, locals milk cows and boil the milk to make a greasy, creamy curd.
The warm curd is stretched into sheets that are wrapped around sticks and left to dry. This is another Yunnan cheese snack, known as "ru shan" or "milk fan".
"Milk fan" can be eaten raw, but they are most of the time warmed on grills, spread with white sugar, and eaten on a stick like lollipops.
On many Buddhist services of the Bai ethnic people in Dali, "milk fan" must be prepared as the major vegetarian dish.
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