It’s all about cheese
Maia’s cheese. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Blocks, wedges and slices of processed cheese are what most Sri Lankans consider to be cheese because apart from the imported cheeses that are most often highly-priced, the variety available here is very limited. Enter Maia Donadze, the Georgian national who has been making a name for herself as a cheesemaker in Sri Lanka.
A trained classical pianist who studied at the Georgian Musical Conservatoire and performed in the USA and Europe, Maia was holidaying in India in 2003 when she realised the lack of quality cheese and made the decision to start her adventure in making cheese.
Giving up her musical career to the surprise of her friends and family, she settled in Goa and tested the waters by making feta and mozzarella cheese which was well-received. In 2009, she met her British-Sri Lankan husband Sheriozha Anthony Wijekoon and over the next few years, she established plants in Chandigarh and Delhi while collaborating with local dairy farmers. In 2015, realising that their business ties weren’t mutually beneficial, the couple left India to settle down in Madipola, Matale, where they set up Maia Cheese (Pvt) Ltd on Anthony’s ancestral land.
Initially Maia faced the issue of finding reliable milk suppliers but she says that now, after almost seven years, she has her go-to suppliers,
collaborating with ten to 15 dairy farmers in the area.
Maia Donadze: Sri Lanka can export cheese one day
As a cheesemaker with 20 years of experience and a mother of six children whose ages range from 22 to two, she likens her cheese to another child. “I sleep, I dream, I live for my cheese. Cheese is like a live product and every three or six months you need to mature it so you look after it every day,” says Maia. David, her eldest son, is himself a musician based in Georgia, while the rest of her children are in Matale, where they’re studying.
There is an art to making cheese, as well as a science and Maia makes it a point to keep herself updated on relevant topics. The surrounding climate and milk can make a huge difference in the end products, she tells us. “You can bring any second or third-generation cheesemaker to this country, right? They won’t be able to make cheese because of the temperature, change in the moisture, change in the milk, and change in the sugar. Everything is changing,” she explains.
Starting very small in a two-room house in Madipola, Maia has gained the respect of those in the village and established good working relationships with not just the dairy farmers that she gives opportunities to, but the women of the village and surrounding areas as well. The women she employs are former garment factory workers who are let go after the age of 45 due to poor eyesight. “This girl comes to me. No education, no English, no profession. So I say ‘you come to my place, I’ll give you the work. When you study with me, then you have the knowledge and this knowledge is worth more than money’,” says Maia.
Maia Cheese currently produces around three tonnes of cheese a month – Cheddar, Halloumi, Gouda, Brie, Bocconcini, cream cheese, blue cheese, Mozzarella, and Parmigiano – or Parmesan among them. Her specialities are the Maiagiano which is a Parmigiano, and the Queen Blue, a blue cheese. She also produces more unique cheese like chocolate cheese, and one suitable for vegans – coconut cheese. The cheese apart, she also produces three varieties of cultured butter and apple cider vinegar.
She hopes to expand the factory to a bigger building adjacent to the current one and get down new machinery which will boost their cheese production to five to ten tonnes. Her dream is that one day the Sri Lankan government will see that Sri Lanka can be an exporter of cheese in the future.
Previously available for purchase online through their website, they’ve since had to halt deliveries due to the fuel quota system in place currently. Their products, however, can be purchased at The Good Market, Saaraketha Organics, the Grocery Box shop and Keells. They also launched their new retail outlet at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel in Colombo just last month.
Visit the Maia Cheese website at https://www.maiacheese.lk/
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