Caviar producer has a 'China Dream'

More Western food being made at home

Just one decade ago, Chinese consumers were stocking imported food and formula milk powders amid the country's incessant food-safety issues. However, the past decade has also witnessed a growing number of premium Western food producers from both China and abroad locating their manufacturing bases in the country, and labeling their pricey products "Made in China", in an attempt to feed the increasing appetite for a taste of luxury.

Foie gras

French group Euralis, which produces nearly a quarter of the foie gras consumed in France, first entered the Chinese mainland in 2007, setting up a farm in Beijing. Late in 2012, the farm was destroyed in a snowstorm. In 2014, the company announced a new plan to rebuild a rearing farm together with a processing plant and commercial structure in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, at a cost of 15 million euros ($18.4 million).

The facility is expected to raise one million geese by 2020, and supply mainly to luxury hotels and restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing.

"This is a market that is experiencing strong growth. In China, foie gras is cropping up more and more in the fine-dining industry and we firmly believe that it will become an ingredient in Chinese cuisine," said Guy de Saint Laurent, director of Rougié China, Euralis' subsidiary.

Black truffles

Southwest China's Yunnan province is known as the home to more than 250 types of mushrooms. Black truffle is one of the most expensive varieties that is sold for 130 yuan ($20.7) to 1,300 yuan per kilogram. Production is estimated at around 200 metric tons every year, with the majority being exported overseas.

A highly fragmented industry supported mainly by individual farmers and wholesalers, the black truffles harvested in Yunnan are generally considered to be of lower quality than their peers from Périgord－the finest in France－mainly because they are usually picked hastily before they are fully matured. But their much lower price, often just a fraction of the European varieties, has led to them being used more practically and widely by chefs and cooks.

Artisan cheese

Liu Yang, 44, is known as Mr Cheese among expats and gourmands in Beijing. Having studied international trade in France for a couple of years, the former information technology engineer started his own cheese factory in Beijing in 2009, as he had a personal penchant for the dairy product and found a wide supply-demand gap in the local market.

Branded as Le Fromager de Pekin, his business today provides a variety of 20 or so cheeses. The skills and equipment to make cheese are imported from France, but Liu uses locally produced milk for his cheese, which has found its way into the fridges at the French embassy in the capital.