Thank you, Mr Buffalo

Ouyang Yuancheng's Aiai Dairy Farm gets milk from about 10,000 buffaloes from Tengchong, a picturesque town surrounded by forests and mountains in Yunnan. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Ouyang knows the cheese market in China is still very small and will need a lot more work. He himself was only exposed to cheese when he went to the Netherlands for his master's degree.

Apart from buffalo mozzarella, Ouyang also sells buffalo milk in Beijing, and that seems even more popular.

What sets this young idealist apart is his commitment to food safety. He often goes the extra mile to remind his clients of when to finish up the milk and the mozzarella, and how to store them properly.

He is always careful to make sure his products are properly handled at the right temperatures in transit and storage, and that his consumers get them delivered freshly harvested from the Tengchong water buffaloes.

"Many of my Chinese consumers are young parents," he says. "They buy mozzarella for their children for the sake of nutrition. The cheese market is still pretty primitive here."