Meet The Cheesemaker From Shillong

Melvin Manners is the force behind the first creamery in Meghalaya

- Bhairavi Jani

Turmeric, ginger and honey, these are some of the food items for which Meghalaya is well-known. But one young man from Shillong decided it was time to do something totally unthinkable and completely creative and he set off on a mission to make something in the misty hills that truly sent the taste buds in a dizzy, and Pine Hills Creamery was born.

The Cheesemaker

You’d imagine Pine Hills’ proprietor, Melvin Manners to be the desi avatar of Italian flamboyance – but Melvin, a 28-year-old, is anything but that. The quiet, mellow, and soft spoken youth from Khasi hills tells us the story in a nutshell, ‘I’ve always been interested in making and creating one thing or the other. When I stumbled upon Cheese-making, it just stuck with me. I basically self-taught myself everything. It turned into a hobby in no time, and then into a small business in a few years.’