Belfast man named New Cheesemaker of 2023 in the UK’s Virtual Cheese Awards, one of the biggest events in the industry

A Sardinian native and engineer, Davide Thani, based in Belfast since 2015, has been named New Cheesemaker of 2023 in the UK’s influential Virtual Cheese Awards, one of the biggest events in the industry this year.

The national recognition was also a substantial boost for Northern Ireland’s developing artisan cheese industry. It was the first time Northern Ireland had won a major award in the competition and remarkable that it was won by a Sardinian creating classic Italian cheeses in east Belfast.

Davide says: “I was thrilled to be recognised for my commitment to creating authentic Italian cheeses for the local market. I am keen to contribute to the further growth of the artisan cheese industry across Northern Ireland.

“While it’s still a relatively small sector here, there’s tremendous scope for faster growth in both short and long terms. I am keen to play my part in developing new cheese experiences for local consumers.”

There was recognition too in the awards, which attracted 250 entries from across the UK, for Dale Farm, Northern Ireland’s biggest producer of a range of cheddars from milk sourced from hundreds of local dairy farmers.

Dale Farm is primarily a successful co-operative involving over 1,000 dairy farmers in Northern Ireland, England and Scotland. It is also Northern Ireland’s biggest exporter of cheddar cheese.

Processing cheese at Dunmanbridge, near Cookstown, Co Tyrone, Dale Farm’s primary Dromona brand was named Northern Ireland’s best cheese for its successful mature cheddar and extra mature cheddar. Dromona has enjoyed great success in national food competitions over very many years.

Originally from Caglari, the capital of Sardinia in southern Italy, Davide Thani grew up in one of Italy’s biggest cheese regions. Moving to Belfast in 2015 with wife Sarah and family, he was so impressed by the quality of the milk here and wanted to add to the evolving artisan food culture, so he started making his own fresh Italian-style cheeses at home.

He saw a gap in the market and converted the family utility room at their home in east Belfast to create a cheese lab where he developed distinctive mozzarella, burrata, stracciatella and scamorza classic Italian recipes, not then readily available fresh in Belfast. He created the cheeses under the Velocheese brand and then started selling them at food markets. He now supplies pizza makers and many delis

here.

The Virtual Cheese Awards, now in its fourth year, were designed “to create a sustainable, inclusive and transparent cheese awards that support and celebrate British cheesemakers, from the grassroots up”.

​​The awards are focused on “celebrating the diversity and quality of British dairy as well as nurturing talent to help promote a sustainable and thriving industry to consumers”.

​It generates publicity, awareness and a route to market for entrants. Entrants also benefit from “the detailed and transparent feedback to cheese producers from the industry’s leading experts”.

​Davide is also making a significant contribution to local cheese processing through collaborations with other producers. In addition to handcrafting his own authentic recipe Italian cheeses, Davide was invited to take over production of Kearney Blue, Northern Ireland’s first blue cheese, when Paul McLean, its original creator, decided to retire last year.

Kearney Blue, which remains among the most popular local cheeses, is produced at FarmView Dairies in the Castlereagh district of Co Down.

Davide took on a small unit in late 2021 in the quirky Banana Block, a food and entertainment hub on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast, to enable him to step up production and create new Italian cheeses for retailers, restaurants, pizza cafes and pizza manufacturers.

With just six months of production under his belt at the cheese lab in Banana Block, the feedback has been tremendous and consumers in Northern Ireland now have the opportunity to experience fresh mozzarella and burrata handcrafted here.

A graduate in Electronic Engineering, Davide grew up in Sardinia where “almost everyone either had or still has a small vegetable garden, some livestock and made everything at home including cheese, bread, jam, wine and cured meats”.

“I milked cows, picked olives for our own oil and tomatoes for our yearly batch of passata,” he continues.

“At home, I regularly pressed grapes in welly boots and milked cows for fresh milk and to make cheese including Sardinia’s famous pecorino, a hard sheep’s milk cheese. Agri-food, especially sheep farming, is also a significant industry on the island.”

He’s now brought the Italian tradition of fresh cheese making successfully to Northern Ireland…and won national recognition for his enterprise.