Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged the achievements of the winners, highlighting how their success has elevated India’s dairy craftsmanship on the global stage. Reported by The Indian Express.
On Wednesday evening, Mausam Narang stepped out for a walk, leaving her phone behind. When she returned, it was flooded with notifications. In Ladakh, Thenlay Nurboo’s phone had also been ringing non-stop. The reason? The Prime Minister had just tweeted about their cheese.
India had made its debut at the Mundial do Queijo do Brasil 2026—the fourth edition of one of the world’s most prestigious blind-tasting competitions—and returned with four medals: one super gold, two golds, and a silver.
Three of these went to Eleftheria, Narang’s artisanal cheese brand based in Mumbai. The fourth, a gold, was awarded to Nurboo’s Yak Churpi, produced at his Nomadic Farm in Durbuk Changthang, Ladakh.
Together, a corporate professional from Mulund and a yak herder from the Himalayas have placed Indian artisanal cheese firmly on the global map.
According to The Indian Express...“The tweet from the PM is one of the greatest moments that my entire team and I will remember for our entire lifetime,” said Narang, 39. “It is a phenomenal recognition to have happened for an artisanal craft cheese maker in this country.”
Nurboo, 35, shared similar emotions. “When Jitendraji told me I had won gold, I was happy. But when the Prime Minister and the Ladakh’s Lieutenant Governor tweeted about me, my happiness knew no bounds.”
Narang explained that the Mundial do Queijo do Brasil saw around 2,700 entries from nearly 30 countries, evaluated by 250 jurors across multiple tables.
Each cheese is judged blindly by three experts on flavour, texture, and visual appeal. Every table selects one super gold winner, which then competes among the top finalists for the overall world champion title.
Eleftheria secured a super gold for Gulmarg, a French Brie-style cheese; a gold for Brunost, a Norwegian-style whey cheese; and a silver for Kaali Miri—an aged cheese ball coated in Kerala black pepper, Himalayan pink salt, and garlic.
As Narang describes it, it is “the holy trinity of flavours that everybody in India would love.” Nurboo’s Yak Churpi earned the second gold. Said by The Indian Express.
For Nurboo, the recognition goes beyond personal success. It belongs to Ladakh’s traditional Yak Churpi, a cheese that pastoralist communities in the region have been crafting for generations. He hopes this achievement will help revive the local yak-based economy, which has been gradually declining.
A decade ago, Narang’s journey looked very different. She was working at Capgemini and baking sourdough as a weekend hobby. Unable to find suitable cheese to pair with her bread, she decided to make her own. “I decided to make it myself. I thought, how difficult can it be? I discovered it was extremely difficult.”
The necessary ingredients were not readily available in India, so she began sourcing them in small quantities from abroad. She converted her bedroom fridge into a makeshift aging chamber by setting it to 13 degrees Celsius and installing a hygrometer to monitor humidity. At one point, she had 20–25 varieties of cheese aging in that single fridge.
By 2015, she was working with 80 litres of milk in her mother’s kitchen and realised this was no longer just a hobby. She quit her corporate job, taught herself through reading and experimentation, rented a small space in Bhandup, and launched Eleftheria with the help of one assistant.
Today, the brand employs 65 people, supplies to major hospitality groups like the Oberoi Group and the Taj Group, as well as restaurants such as O Pedro, The Bombay Canteen, CinCin, and chef Sanchez’s Americano and Otra. The business has also recorded 30% year-on-year growth since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nurboo, meanwhile, was unable to attend the ceremony in Brazil. Although he had planned to travel to São Paulo, he missed the mandatory yellow fever vaccination window required for entry. Instead, he sent his Yak Churpi through the National Dairy Development Board, allowing his product to represent him on the global stage.
Belonging to the Changpa community—high-altitude pastoralists of Changthang—Nurboo studied up to the 10th grade in Ladakh before training in sustainable organic farming at SECMOL, founded by Sonam Wangchuk. At Nomadic Farm, established by his parents over 30 years ago, a range of yak-based products are produced, including ghee, lassi, curd, and churpi.
For Nurboo, this victory is not just his own—it belongs to a tradition that has existed long before him.
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