Davao City, The Philippines

In the wake of needing a solution to her husband’s growing goat problem on the family-owned farm, Olive Puentespina accidentally became a cheesemaker and artisan crafter. Her pursuit for learning has brought her to different places, and connected her to passionate craftspeople who share her willingness to achieve the quality and standards needed for Malagos Farmhouse to reach local and international recognition.

Davao City sits on the eastern edge of the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, as the third most populous city of the country. In the broader scope of things, it seems unlikely that cheese could be well made here but she was undeterred. After deciding to pursue goat milk production in lieu of slaughtering, the next question for Olive was preservation. She turned to a former colleague from the Dairy Training and Research Institute of the

University of the Philippines, who taught her to make feta cheese. According to Olive, there are not very distinct seasons that can grossly affect the taste of the animal’s forage and they practice using multiple sources to influence the milk’s richness.

In 2006, her cheese was not only accepted by the Cheese Club of the Philippines but won the Cheese of the Month award. Spurred by the initial success, Olive says that she “never stopped imagining, trying and perfecting 27 protocols for cheese, made in the Philippines”. Acceptability came slow however, she admits, as the Philippines does not have a cheese culture (like most Asian countries) but with the increased accessibility to global travel and information sharing, more and more Filipinos were introduced to the world of cheese. “I guess I came in at an opportune time. Dedication to the craft also came through in the products. We started offering them to international hotel and restaurant chains and the appreciation of the chefs was astonishing,” she shared, adding that once those doors had been opened “the challenge of maintaining and improving the quality, quantity and acceptability, was real and we never looked back. We trained, increased milk production, we travelled, we collaborated and the rest, as they say, is history”.

This willingness to learn and collaborate can be traced back to the Puentespina’s strong family ties. Olive is very clear that the success behind Malagos Farmhouse lies in the community of family and friends they have entertained over lunch at their family home. “Here you will hear a lively exchange of great ideas and arguments being settled, all with respect and in the name of good, clean fun.” On her ideal cheese themed lunch date, she said that she’d have loved for her late mother to taste and enjoy the Malagos cheeses, which are best served as an antipasti course with Philippine fruit jams and preserves. “She was the most selfless, creative and loving person I know and her kindness was legendary, a trait we practice as a culture in the company. She also gave her kids the first taste of Queso de Bola (Edam), a Christmas cheese, while we were young.”

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Puentespina Compound, Bolcan Street, Agdao, Davao City, Philippines 8000 IG: @malagosfarmhouse www.malagosfarmhouse.com

Anthony Cho Jang-hyun dreamt of becoming a successful chef after quitting his white-collar job when he was 36 years old. He enrolled to the London branch of the Le Cordon Bleu institute in 2002, and returned to Korea to open two restaurants- French fine dining establishment, Kitchen flo, and gastropub, Chez flo, both located in Seoul. His passion for cheesemaking developed a decade after and he began his quest for knowledge, traveling the globe to learn from esteemed craftspeople such as cheesemaker Neil Wilman in New Zealand, salumi from Massimo