Getting cheesy

Mansi Jasani loved cheese so much that she quit her job for it! It was, however, far from a straight and easy path. Jasani studied management and worked in finance and PR before plunging into a patisserie course at Dadar Catering College. "At every step, I knew what I did not want to do, not what I wanted to do," she recollects.

It was while pursuing a masters in Food Studies at New York University that she discovered Murray's Cheese, a New York institution dedicated to the dairy product. Here, her love for cheese showed her the way forward and she ended up doing a food internship with them. She says, "I was exposed to cheese from all over the world. It was like Disneyland for me!"

After a course at the Vermont Institute of Artisan Cheese, it was time to wend her way back home to Breach Candy and start The Cheese Collective. "Cheese and the ideas that go with it is what The Cheese Collective is all about," she says. Not only does Jasani conduct cheese tasting, but she also makes fresh cheese and is a cheesemonger as well. She sources several varieties of cheese from around the country.

"I have been to Pondicherry, Kodaikanal and Coonoor. Now, I am going to explore North India," says Jasani.

Currently, The Cheese Collective stocks Chèvre available in plain, herbed and fruity varieties, Labneh, fresh cow's milk farmer's cheese (cottage cheese) and cheese balls. But you can also buy Camembert, Gruyère, La Buchette (a mild blue cheese), a curry leaf cheese called Le Pondicheri and garlic Gouda, all of which have been sourced from various cheese-makers from across India. There is even a chocolate cheese fudge with peanut butter. A vegetarian herself, Jasani makes cheese using vegetable rennet and requests a week's notice to prepare everything fresh.

For more details log on to www.facebook.com/TheCheeseCollective