His favorite cheese is "aapru tokri nu paneer,” Jehangir Lawyer told Parsiana on September 17, 2023, two days after being initiated into the Guilde Internationale des Fromagers Confrérie de Saint Uguzon at Bra, a town in the Piedmont region of Italy, 50 km from Turin. A body for cheese manufacturers, affineurs (those involved in the process of caring for, ripening and aging cheese), distributors and retailers of the produce, the guild has over 8,700 members worldwide. The second Indian and the third Asian to gain entry to the guild, Lawyer founded Fortune Gourmet Specialties Private Limited in 1997. The company is an importer and distributor of fine foods. Products are sourced from Europe, the Far East, Australia, South America, North America and India.
So why the "partiality” for cheese when his company has a much broader range of products that include meats, sea food, chocolate and the like? "It is my passion,” he said. Having done short courses in cheese making, Lawyer’s company even manufactures a "small percentage of our cheese range,” he stated. There are no tangible benefits to the company accruing from the membership of the guild, "But look at the visibility and the networking opportunities!” he noted.
As a non-profit organization the Guilde Internationale des Fromagers aims to gather the dairy network at any possible level and worldwide, states their website. "The Guild is combined with the Confrérie de Saint Uguzon whose purpose is to transmit knowledge through cheese companionship,” the website adds.
Top: Cheese connoisseur Jehangir Lawyer and above, 3rd from l, being inducted into a cheese guild