Tennis player Novak Djokovic is opening a restaurant chain in his native Serbia, and bought the entire world’s yearly supply of donkey cheese for his business.
The “pule”, or donkey cheese, is a rare delicacy that’s priced at €1,000/kg, and is made exclusively by Balkan donkeys on a farm west of Belgrade.
How do producers justify the exorbitant price tag? In addition to being milked three times a day by hand, it takes 25 liters of milk to produce one kilogram of cheese, while the animals roam free in one of the most pristine, nature reserves in Serbia.
The white, crumbly cheese has been compared to Spanish Manchego cheese, but deeper and richer in taste, says The Telegraph.
The Serbian tennis champion, currently ranked the No. 1 tennis singles player in the world, bought out the 2013 output of donkey cheese from the world’s sole producer to supply his chain of restaurants Novak Café & Restaurant in Belgrade.
On the menu currently is standard bar and bistro fare such as assorted salads, risottos, pastas — spaghetti carbonara, penne Bolognese and tagliatelle and salmon — as well as steaks and chicken mains.
Donkey milk is also said to most closely resemble human milk and is rich in omega 3s and omega 6s, which can help lower cholesterol.
Though not quite as pricey as the pule, a cheesemaker in the UK also released a limited-edition Stilton cheese bedecked in flecks of edible gold leaf last year. Long Clawson’s Stilton Gold was sold for £60 (€75) per 100g slice or £608 a kilo.
