{"id":371510,"date":"2024-08-05T11:25:14","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T14:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=371510"},"modified":"2024-08-05T12:24:27","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T15:24:27","slug":"a-cheese-where-arab-culture-meets-a-brazilian-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/a-cheese-where-arab-culture-meets-a-brazilian-farm\/","title":{"rendered":"A cheese where Arab culture meets a Brazilian farm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Cavalhada is a folk tradition that remains in some places in Brazil in pretty much the same way it started around the 1700s. Ca\u00e7atuba, a district in the municipality of S\u00e3o Luiz do Paraitinga, S\u00e3o Paulo state, is one of places where the entire community gets involved in its preparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But some 50 years ago, during the rehearses of the annual presentation of these event that brings together religiosity, faith and culture, the rider playing the Moorish king felt sick and died, leaving a hole in the cast of the play that recreates medieval tournaments and the battles fought by Christians to reconquer the Iberian Peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Products
Products that were originally made for own consumption started being demanded by closed ones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Seu Amaro was an important figure in the city, and his participation in the festivities a tradition. As way to honor him, it was decided to maintain the event and another resident was invited to take up the role. But he refused, claiming he didn\u2019t know how to play and there was little time to learn. But on the appointed day, despite his insecurities, he wore the gear of his fallen mate, mounted and headed to the staging area. People say a figure in red, the same color of the Moorish army, appeared on the center of the square, blended into the participants and then was gone, and the new master who knew nothing suddenly played like he knew everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half a century later, Seu Amaro is back to the center of the stage to receive another homage – the Arab cheese that has recently been included in the portfolio of the Lano-Alto<\/a> brand was named after him. \u201cFor legal reasons, our shanklish can\u2019t be sold under this designation,\u201d says Paulo Lemos, an advertiser turned award-winner cheesemaker. \u201cWe\u2019re in deep rural territory, on top of the Serra do Mar, in a village with 800 residents and a 300-year history. It\u2019s impressive how they keep their traditional farming culture alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ca\u00e7atuba\u2019s Lano-Alto farm was established in 2018 by Lemos, who was born in S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s countryside, and his wife Yentl, who comes from a family of Syrians and Lebanese. \u201cOur line is guided by real products that tell stories, so it makes sense to name our launch Amaro, as things connect,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple met and fell in love when he was still working in advertising in S\u00e3o Paulo, some 20 years ago. Together they lived a period in Los Angeles, United States, where they started researching and becoming more concerned about the origin of their foods, and encouraged by friends, they started making cheeses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From communication to rural life<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"The
The couple\u2019s rural life gave them a new career path<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

They went back to Brazil in 2014 to do a job in Inhotim, an outdoor art center in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, and by the end of the contract, they decided to stay and live in a farm they had bought four years earlier, turning it into a communication office. But the rural life spoke louder, and the items they originally made for their own consumption draw the attention of others. \u201cWe could imagine that the things around us would get more attention than our day job, so we realized that creating and selling these was also a way to tell stories,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Award-winning cheese<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The result of this path \u201cmade of kidney stones, sweat, and tears,\u201d as Lemos says, arrived quickly. In 2022, two of their recipes won Super Gold and Gold in the Brazilian Cheese World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides making and selling yogurts, cheeses, and dulce de leche alongside a five-strong staff, watching over animals that roam free around the farm, taking care of the brand\u2019s social media, naming their creations, and crafting packages, the couple raises two kids \u2013 Lauro, 3, and Pilar, 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Report by Paula Medeiros, in collaboration with ANBA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Supplied<\/div>
Supplied\/Lano-Alto<\/div>
Supplied\/Lano-Alto<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amaro, named after a man who played a Moorish character in the town, is a shanklish, an Arab cheese launched by Lano-Alto. The dairy production of the farm in S\u00e3o Paulo state is guided by a just, ethical management of both pastures and animals, including regenerative agriculture models and micro-cultures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2343,"featured_media":371343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[50426,9534,6924,50427,50425,50428,6811,29660,50429],"class_list":{"0":"post-371510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-agribusiness","8":"tag-artisan-cheese","9":"tag-brazil-en","10":"tag-cheese","11":"tag-cheesemaking","12":"tag-lano-alto-2","13":"tag-moorish-2","14":"tag-mouros-en","15":"tag-queijo-en","16":"tag-shanklish-2"},"wps_subtitle":"Amaro, named after a man who played a Moorish character in the town, is a shanklish, an Arab cheese launched by Lano-Alto. The dairy production of the farm in S\u00e3o Paulo state is guided by a just, ethical management of both pastures and animals, including regenerative agriculture models and micro-cultures.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2343"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}