Heritagizing local cheese in China: Opportunities, challenges, and inequalities

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe author discusses the heritagization of local foods in China, based on his ethnographic research into the production, marketing, and consumption of rubing or “milk cake,” a goat milk cheese made in Yunnan province in the southwest of the country. The article draws attention to regional and ethnic dimensions to heritagization processes in China, sheds light on the relationship between heritagization and state projects of agricultural modernization, and raises critical questions about the opportunities and challenges for smallholder producers to create and capture value in the growing market for Chinese local heritage foods.