Say cheese: Asian countries with a deep cheese culture
Asia is often flattened into a continent “without cheese”, a misconception that confuses East Asian culinary dominance with continental reality. In fact, Asia contains some of the world’s oldest dairy cultures—older than many European ones—rooted in pastoral economies where milk was survival, not indulgence. The key dividing line isn’t East versus West, but agrarian rice cultures versus nomadic and highland societies. Where people moved with animals, cheese followed.
These countries didn’t merely consume cheese; they built daily life around it. Cheese here is rarely aged for prestige or terroir branding. It is eaten young, dried hard, boiled, melted into broths or churned into something else entirely. The cultural signal is not abundance but continuity—cheese as infrastructure. Here are some Asian countries with their own cheese culture.
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Mongolia
Watch a Mongolian family make traditional cheeses
Mongolia has one of the deepest cheese cultures in the world, born from nomadic herding and total dependence on livestock. Milk from horses, yaks, sheep, goats and cows is fermented, curdled, dried and distilled into dozens of forms. Byaslag, a fresh curd cheese, is eaten daily, while harder dried curds are stored for winter.
Cheese here is not separated from other dairy products; it exists on a spectrum with yoghurt, dried milk skins and fermented drinks like airag. Modern Mongolian chefs are now reframing these traditions in urban contexts, serving cheese as part of tasting menus without altering its essential forms. The culture never disappeared—it simply never needed validation.
India
The development of paneer is actually driven by religion, but its impact has gone beyond that (Photo: Kanwardeep Kaur/Unsplash)
India’s cheese culture is vast, though it looks nothing like Europe’s. Paneer, chhena and regional curds are integral to North Indian, Bengali and Punjabi cuisines, driven by Hindu vegetarianism and an agricultural economy centred on cattle and buffalo. Cheese here is fresh, heat-set and immediately cooked—ageing was historically unnecessary and impractical.
Rather than cheese boards, India developed a cuisine of transformation: cheeses that absorb spices, sauces and heat. Today, artisanal dairies in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are experimenting with aged cheeses, but the cultural core remains fresh cheese as daily protein, not luxury.
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Nepal and Bhutan
In the Himalayas, cheese exists because it must. Yak and cow milk are turned into soft and hard cheeses designed to last through long winters and travel. Chhurpi, especially its rock-hard form, reflects a culture where food must endure altitude and scarcity.
Bhutan, in particular, integrates cheese into national dishes like ema datshi, where dairy is melted into chillies rather than served alone. These are societies where cheese was never optional—and never ornamental.
Turkey
Turkey sits at the crossroads, and its cheese culture reflects centuries of movement, empire and pastoral life. From beyaz peynir (brined and crumbly) to tulum (aged in skins), Turkish cheeses are embedded in daily meals and not reserved for special occasions.
What distinguishes Turkey is scale: cheese is eaten at every breakfast table, across regions and classes. While often grouped with Europe, Anatolia’s dairy culture predates modern borders and belongs firmly to Asia’s pastoral belt.
Iran
Iranian cheese culture revolves around simplicity and daily ritual. Fresh white cheeses are eaten with flatbread, herbs and tea, often at breakfast. Ageing exists, but freshness dominates.
Historically, cheese here functioned as a protein source for both urban and rural populations, aligned with bread rather than wine. Modern Iranian chefs in the diaspora are reintroducing these cheeses in contemporary contexts, often emphasising milk quality over technique.
Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan)
In Central Asia, cheese cannot be separated from other dairy practices. Kurt, a dried yoghurt-cheese ball, and fresh curds coexist with fermented drinks and butterfat concentrates. These are cuisines where cheese is not singled out—it’s one step in milk’s life cycle. Today, as urbanisation accelerates, the cheese culture of these countries is being documented and preserved, sometimes reframed as heritage foods rather than everyday sustenance.
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